319. Big News from Big Bourbon Chief

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.

Hey this is Big Chief and you're listening to The Bourbon Road. You know what I love to pour in my old fashions? Is a little maple syrup. It can't be just any maple syrup. It has to be from seldom seen farms up in Ohio. He takes bourbon barrels. pours his syrup in there and ages it for six to nine months making for some delicious just some delicious syrup that you could pour on pancakes you can pour it on waffles chicken and waffles like this fat guy likes but seriously you want to make a delicious cocktail with some maple syrup and not that old simple syrup check out seldom see maple.com pick up some stuff from there today we'd appreciate it

Hello, everybody. I'm Jim Shannon. And I'm Mike Hyatt. This is the Bourbon Road. And today, Mike, we are in StreamYard. You've had a couple of tough days at work and we just couldn't quite get together. And, you know, it was just a good opportunity for us to connect up on StreamYard, grab a bottle of whiskey that we both wanted to drink. something a little special to each one of us. Yeah. Yeah. And do a little chit chatting. It's a big show. We've got some big announcements to make. Some got a lot going on. Some shocking, shocking news. Some of our listeners may know what's coming, but some of them may not. And it's kind of a dual episode though. We're going to talk a little bit about the news we have to reveal. And we're also going to pay homage to the veterans because Veterans Day is this Friday.

Yeah, let's talk about the veterans first. You know, we're both veterans. Jim, you served eight years in the Navy. I served 24 in the Army and the Coast Guard, and then I still work as a government civilian today. But, you know, hats off to all of our brothers and sisters out there that still wore the uniform. Even the kids, you know, I work up on the fourth floor of the federal building in Louisville, I get to see the sign every morning when I walk into work and it always brings a smile to my face and it says, the gateway to freedom at MEPS. And if that don't put a damn smile on your face as an American, nothing will. And I see those young kids in there and they look to me like babies, right?

Now MEPS is the onboarding processing center.

Yes, the military entrance point is what it is. You know, every big city usually has one or each state usually has one. I went through Dallas, Texas is where I went. And I would imagine you went through Columbus, Ohio.

I went through Cincinnati for entry, but basically most of my processing happened in San Diego.

Yeah. Yeah. Well, once you get to where you're going to go to basic training and you go through that process, but that's that military entrance point. And I get to walk past it every day to go to work and it puts a smile on my face and I'm thinking, Look at those young kids and they don't even know the sacrifices they're going to make for people's freedom. You know, if you stay in as long as I did. And that's a very long time. Yeah, it is. It's hard to make friends and people that you leave home, they're like, oh, I come visit you. And, you know, most people don't ever make that visit. Um, and then if, when you get somewhere, I always say, if you're somewhere for four years, the first year, it takes you to get your household set up. The second year, you start to make friends. Uh, the third year you make a home and the fourth year you pack your home up and leave it and you leave all your friends behind. And you kind of just, just this mad cycle. Um, And luckily for me, I'm married to a military brat that her dad served. Hats off to you, Tony, for being a veteran. And she's the perfect traveling spouse, right? I couldn't ask for anything better. But the veterans out there that served, serving today, hats off to you. I feel blessed and we're recording this on election day. Um, we wouldn't have free elections without guys like me and you, Jim, you know, absolutely. But he's out there like Chris Cruz. Uh, you know, I can just go on. Fred Minnick is a veteran. Um, we wouldn't have our freedom if it wasn't guys like that. raised their hand and said, I will protect and serve and defend the constitution. We both know that. Yeah, absolutely.

I mean, it's a special kind of person. It takes a special kind of person to devote themselves to military service. And it's not an easy decision to make. I can remember the day I made mine. There's a bit of excitement to it when you make that decision. But there's a hard shock of reality when you finally enter into service at MAPS or wherever it is, and you have to deal with that totally different environment than it is to live in civilian public. And it's, so it's a sacrifice from day one, the very first day you enter in, uh, you start your sacrifice and it continues to the day you separate. And it's, it's just a different world. It's a different world. It's one of, uh, compliance. It's one of dedication. It's a one of service. Um, and it's, uh, life changing for sure.

Yeah, I always think that our veterans, they don't get enough. There's a lot of veterans out there that suffer from PTSD. They suffer from anxiety. They don't have a home. And if I can push something real fast, GM, is if you're looking to help veterans out, go to charities like USA Cares, somebody we've partnered with this past year, ask them how you can help a veteran. Go to a VFW, ask how you can help a veteran. Go to the veteran's hospital and ask how you can volunteer. There's veterans out there that need your help today. you know, without our veterans that we wouldn't have such a great nation. It's just, I'm a tear up saying this, but yeah, Friday is Veterans Day. And I said this to the last podcast, but If you know a veteran, think a veteran and you might not get anything back from them. A lot of them don't know what to say.

Um, what you'd normally get is a humble nod. Uh, they'll just acknowledge that they heard what you said, but they, they won't have any words for you because it's, uh, it's tough to come up with words.

It is. I always love when somebody says, thank you for your service. I, you know, somebody pat me on the back or shake my hand. And I, sometimes I don't know what to say. It's even worse when a fellow veteran says, Hey, thanks for your service, brother. Uh, you know, I only served four years and Hey, four years is four years. That's, um, old geezers like me that served 24 years. I'm just sticking around for that prison sentence. And, uh, waiting for that paycheck at the end of the day. Hey, it's helped me out, you know, being a veteran. I've got a lot of nice things in life and I feel very fortunate that I got to serve, that I'm still healthy, that like I said, day's election day. And those polls, those, you know, people wouldn't be able to vote today if it wasn't for guys like you, Jim, spending eight years under the ocean. You know, Dave Stevenson down the road and Greg Robinson, those guys were what they did. Greg's brother, I could just go on and on about veterans that we know. And So we'll get off our high horse, but thank you to our fellow veterans out there. If you're one of our listeners, you're not a veteran. Think of veteran and we'd really appreciate it.

Absolutely Mike. So let's, let's talk a little bit about what we have in our glass today. So each of us decided to choose a bottle that we, that we like. And I think yours is pretty apparent.

Well, I got a bottle of Weller 107. You might call it Weller Antique. It's called all kinds of stuff. One of my, you know, favorite whiskeys, the Weed of the King of Kentucky. You should believe I'd have some wheat in my glass today sipping on this. It's super delicious. What do you got, Jim?

So I've got a bottle of Henry McKenna 10 year bottled in Bond. This bottle is available, but they're few and far between. But I have a couple of them and every now and then I'll go revisit it because Heaven Hill really puts some special liquid in these bottles. And this particular bottle was barreled on 1220 of 07. So that means it came out. Yeah, it was bottled in 2017. So this is an older bottle. Definitely a great bourbon to sip on. Not my signature bourbon, but definitely one I like to have.

Yeah. Two great bottles. I mean, um, You know, people that say they don't like Weller, um, I just kind of laugh at them and, or people that say they don't like Henry McKenna. I always say Henry McKenna a 10 year is like banana bread in a bottle. It is that good. Um, and then Weller 107 is, it's, uh, it's like a hot tamale candy.

But it's got, it's got a little bit of cherry in it too. Doesn't it?

I mean, yeah, we know that hot tamale candy's got some, I don't know what the red stuff is. I just die.

I think it's just, I, but I know that that's Melody's favorite candy. So anytime she has a birthday or Christmas or some special day, I always make sure I get her a little box of those hot tamales because that's her favorite candy. So, you know, she's never had one or one Oh seven. Maybe I need to introduce her to it with a box of candies or those candies. Yeah. Yeah.

Eat one of those. And then, uh, and then say here, try this. So everybody's probably like, Hey, what's this news? What's this shocking news you're going to talk about? Well, roadies, the listeners out there in a podcast land, um, couple of weeks ago, about a month ago, I guess, Jim, I saw an opportunity for a position I wanted in the Coast Guard as a Coast Guard civilian. And I applied for it. And usually the position is Either a higher ranking officer usually ends up with those positions, not an old dirty, unless it's a guy like myself.

Salty dog.

Yeah, an old salty boss and mate chief. But I do have to give to Gab, right? At least I think I do. So for some reason I interviewed for the job and the guy called me and said, Hey, the job's yours if you want it. And, uh, you know, I've thought about it hard and I prayed about it hard and You know, me and Viv talked about it and it's something I really want to do in life. So I've accepted to be the new port security specialist at a, it's called Marine Safety Unit, Port Arthur, Texas, which is the port of Beaumont, Texas and the port of Port Arthur. But Beaumont, Texas is the fourth largest port in the United States. And it's also the largest military outload port in the world. We're meaning where all of our military equipment ships out to go throughout the world, uh, to do the King's business. And, uh, so Viv and I are going to be headed to Texas back home after 31 years, Jim.

Yeah. Yeah. I mean, you've, you've always maintained a close tie with Texas and Texas has always been a part of it.

Many of your conversations. You know, I'm, I am a big old Texan. They always say everything's bigger in Texas. And, you know, I do live a large life. Uh, I'm happy, but, um, I'm very sad to announce that, uh, tonight's going to be my last show. Uh, I just, I got a lot of stuff going on right now. Um, a lot of people might not know this. Jim knows this for sure. Uh, I have a little bit of an anxiety problem. I get stressed out very easily. Uh, when I got news like this, I got a lot of stuff going on and. It's overwhelming to sell a farm here in Kentucky and we're going to miss our farm. I'm going to miss the Bourbon Trail. I don't know that I would have time to dedicate to the Bourbon Road at this time. And I just felt that it's fair to the podcast, it's fair to you, Jim, to just kind of hang it up for the mic and hang up the earphones for a little bit. concentrate on making sure that my wife has a home down in Texas that she can be comfortable in. Cause I, once again, as I did for 31 years, I've picking her up and making her move again. Um, and you, you know, well that we love our place here. We've built a home, right?

Yeah. And I, I could, I could see it now. I mean, So many times in your past, you've come home with orders, right? And I think this time you came home with orders and Viv just turned, went and got the boxes and started taping them up because that's what she does, right?

She, she has, you know, a lot of people don't know that about Viv is that, um, the Viv's, you know, Viv's 59 years old. I know she's going to get mad at me for telling everybody her age, but it's no secret out there. It's published. Um, but for 59 years of her life, she's been, um, military daughter, a military wife, and now a military son. The great things are that our grandkids are only about three and a half hours away. We'll both be home in Texas. For people that don't know, Big Chief loves to eat some shrimp and some crawfish. I'll be down there and I'll probably have a pool or something like that. We won't, they want to farm this time. At least we don't think we will. Um, I'll be a busy, busy man for, uh, for a long time, I think. Um, but this is listeners. This is super difficult for me. I've, I love the bourbon community. I love it wholeheartedly. Um, I love the friends that we've made, the interviews that we've had, the friendships that I've built, me and Jim's conversations up and down the road. Good Lord, we've had some conversations. We've had dreams. We've talked about all kinds of stuff and this is going to be a tough move. Probably the toughest move I've had. You always think, Hey, the next unit is, is going to be better. And, um, the grass is always greener on the other side until you get there. Right. And the worst place you ever left is your last unit. Always. It seems like I'm sure you had that in your career, Jim, right?

Oh yeah, for sure.

Um, but this time, I don't know if I can say that I really don't, you know, I've, we've built a home here in Kentucky. You know, people say, Oh, my old Kentucky home, but at the same time, You know, you'd have to come out here to Jeff, the Ben farm and look what we have and the view we have. And, um, if you've met me, you know, I have a passion for, for whiskey, for bourbon, for not just Kentucky bourbon, but for whiskey in the whiskey community in America. I just love it. Um, I love the people. So Jim, I, you know, I've had a great time and, um, I wouldn't say this is goodbye because I'm going to, As long as you'll have me, Jim, I'll come back every once in a while as a special guest. We'll see if we can resurrect the old big bad booty daddy of bourbon and get him to come on and talk. about maybe the bourbon of the year. Maybe I'll find something special down in Texas we got to talk about. So like we've had Randy on in the past shows. Yes, just it's that time that I need to go down there and focus on this right now and focus on Viv and focus on Woodrow to make sure I'm taking him for his farm. So it's going to be it's going to be difficult. Yeah, it's going to be a little emotional for Woodrow too.

I think he's kind of, he's kind of made a home with that place and you know, kind of, you know, you know, when the, the, the blue angels fly that missing man formation. Yeah. That one, that one. So there'll always be a mic set up just in case big chief shows up and wants to join in on the podcast because there's always a place for you.

I appreciate that. So I know listeners are wondering what's, what's Jim going to do with that old big chief? What's he going to do without the weight of King of Kentucky? Are you going to be able to find another big guy?

Okay. Well, first of all, uh, I could never ever replace Mike Hyatt.

Uh, that, that's just not going to happen.

Uh, but the plan is to move on with the bourbon road to continue recording episodes. uh, to eventually find another cohost who will share the mic with me and to continue this journey down the bourbon road. So, uh, you know, we're at 320 episodes or so right now, you know, there's no reason why we can't hit 500 and keep the content coming. Now there's not going to be big chief. There's not going to be, uh, the big bad booty daddy. There's going to be a few things that have to change, but At the end of the day, the Bourbon Road will continue. The roadies will continue. The Bourbon Road Facebook group and Instagram and TikTok and all the things that we do will continue on. but, uh, they'll, they'll have to be some changes because Mike, you leave a big black hole where you used to be.

Well, hopefully it's not black hole.

Just black hole is like black holes, representation of emptiness, right?

It's like void. That's what I'm leaving empty bottle. Uh, you know, you know, I could talk about the things that we've, we've got to do and the people we've got to meet and, um, how much fun we've got to have over the past this past year has been just super amazing. We had a lot of plans and then something like this sneaks up. It was nothing to plan. Um, listeners, trust me, it was just, it was a spur of the moment thing that just kind of happened. And, um, you know, I always felt like I'm not that lucky of a guy. Um, I, you know, if I played the lottery, I'm not going to win it. I didn't win that $2 billion today, Jim. I hate to tell everybody. Um, but this time I got lucky. You did though. Yeah, yeah. Probably didn't need it either, but I just got lucky and I feel lucky that I was part of the Bourbon Road. I feel lucky that we've built a community in the Bourbon Roadies. We built a whiskey community. You know, when we go to events and people come up and say hi or give us a hug or share a pour with us, send us stuff in a mail. All the whiskey community out there in the distilleries, that stuff is going to leave a blasting memory with me. And if people don't think I don't enjoy this, I do. you just don't know how much I'm going to miss this. And I mean, I appreciate everybody's support and me and Viv are going to need a lot of prayers. Everybody says the most stressful time in a marriage is moving and buying a house, right? Or selling a house. And we've did this a lot. Viv, you're right about Viv. didn't even blink an eye. Really. She's just, Hey, let's, let's do this. Let's, let's pack it up and let's go make another home. And, um, you know, that's what, that's what a great woman does. I, I, you know, there's no better than her out there. You know, I know your wife's great, but, uh, I don't know if I could have found a better woman than Vivian. And, um, You know, I'm just blessed. I was blessed that I, you know, I got to meet you in a, in a bar in Shelbyville, Kentucky, drinking bourbon one night. And I was like, man, this guy's hitting on me. No, no, you didn't take that. Did you? I was like, man, I must be sexy tonight. No. It's going to, and I wish you well, Jim. I hope you find a great cohost. Um, I was very honored to be selected to be your cohost. And, uh, you know, I was only, when I started, I was like, man, can I match this brandy guy? Um, I don't have that long flowing blonde hair or anything. So, um, I couldn't match that for sure. He looks, he looked like John Snyder from the Dukes of Hazzard. And I was like, well, that's not me. Um, but. Yeah. What a great time. If you're down in Texas in the Port Arthur, Beaumont area, look me up. This isn't the last time you've seen me. I'm going to keep Big Bourbon Chief Instagram going. I don't know what I'm going to do with it, but I'll still do some bourbon stuff when I get time. You'll probably see me on the Texas Whiskey Trail for sure. We've already talked about that a little bit. Some Texas people reached out to me. So you'll see me doing that. And I'm going to come back to Kentucky because I've got Jim here and I've got a horse farm to stay at. So why wouldn't I take advantage of a free vacation at all? His Airbnb he has, hopefully at a discounted rate. We'll come drink some bourbon up here in the land of bourbon and enjoy a little bit of life up here. You know what I always feel like, and me and you've talked about this, Jim, right? We see all these other podcasts that don't live here in Kentucky. And, you know, I've said this many times, like, I don't know how they do it. I really don't. And maybe I've taken it, taken it for granted while I was here that, you know, bourbon is really at my footstep at all moments. I could step out my door and be a bourbon.

Yeah. I don't think you've taken it for granted. I think you've sucked up every moment of it and you've immersed yourself in Kentucky bourbon and all things bourbon. So I would have to say that if you never come to Kentucky again, if you spend the rest of your years in Texas and you have had enough Kentucky and enough Kentucky bourbon to last a lifetime.

Well, I'm going to take a little bit of it with me and I'll definitely be back. I am a Kentucky Colonel, so I think I owe it to Kentucky. It's kind of been a second home for me.

Maybe, just maybe, we can get you to come back for bourbon on the banks next year.

Yeah, I got told that if I'm not here, it's not happening. So there are some people that I can't explain how many messages that I've gotten and well wishes and stuff, but there's been a lot of tears shed with some people that have been great friends. And there's a lot of change in the bourbon world right now. Right, Jim? You know, wilderness trail just sold. Mark and Denny just left Maker's Mark and are making their own deal. There's a distillery, $200 million distillery being built halfway between our houses. I could go on a green river being sold to Barsound bourbon company, right? Leapers fork, uh, has a new partner in London where they're going to distribute their whiskey over there. Um, they didn't sell out to them. They didn't sell. It's just new partner, uh, in England. Uh, bourbon is going to be sold in England now from a small craft that started, which I'm pretty amazing, right?

Yeah.

Yeah. Super proud of Lee Kennedy, April Cantrell, and Matt King down there and the rest of their team. That hats off to them. Distribution across the pond for a small craft facility, you don't see it. And they pulled it off somehow, some way. So, so many bourbon news things happened. Lisa Wicker leaving which hanging up in New York and coming back home to Kentucky. Some people are guessing where she's going to go. I don't know. I'm not going to take a stab at it. I haven't asked her. I haven't bugged her. But Lisa, if I could have you, I know you listen to the podcast, reach out to Jim and come on the podcast with him and tell him where.

Yeah. So there's like an open invitation from her to come down to Bars town and sit on her front porch there and drink whiskey.

Right. Yeah. Yeah. That's, uh, that would be the case. So, um, no, as, uh, most people would say, this isn't, uh, buyers, you know, see you later. I'll see you on down the bourbon road, I guess. Um, You know, like I said, if you come to Kentucky, you probably find me in a pool with what kind of beer, Jim.

You're going to have, uh, either, either course classic or silver bullets walking across the pole.

One of the two, you could bet on that, that, uh, uh, I have a fridge stock where the Coors a banquet and probably some silver bullets. And, uh, I have some bourbon by the pool. You know, I love to have my old barbered margarita, the whiskey sour. So maybe I can get Viv to figure out how to make those for me and serve them up at poolside. That that's my dream. So.

Well, Jim, it's been a hell of a ride, man. Um, it has, it's not completely over Mike, because you're going to come back and visit and we're going to have a few shows in the future. Uh, we'll, we'll, we'll be searching for that new cohost and we've got some ideas and, uh, some changes and direction, you know, that we want to do to try and, uh, make up for that big black hole, that void that you're leaving. Because quite honestly, your personality and the work that you've done to build up the Bourbon Road is going to be missed and it's going to leave a little bit of a void that needs to be filled. But with that, I think I should probably let our listeners know that we're probably going to discontinue the Monday episodes, the craft distillery episodes, at least through the end of the year. Mike needs to take care of things to get business taken care of and get his family moved to Texas. It's going to be a little bit tough for me to maintain two shows a week during that timeframe. In addition to that, I'm going to have to search out and find a good co-host for the Bourbon Road and continue with the business that we do. So let's just assume for the moment that we're going to postpone and pause the Monday episodes for the moment. We'll drop back to one episode a week until we can get things organized and set for 2023. It's going to be a big year. We do have the need to decide who our bourbon of the year is for 2023. And we're going to make sure that happens one way or another. And we'll let you guys know more about that in the next few episodes.

Well, Jim, like I said, it's been a hell of a ride, man. It's a, I've had a great time. Roadies, listeners, don't forget to, like I said, please give me a follow on Instagram at Big Bourbon Chief. Make sure you're watching that to see what I'm doing in the future. You never can tell where I'm going to pop up, show up. Am I going to start a new podcast? I don't know. It might be a sports podcast. Jim would tell you that I'm a football nut at almost all times. I love football and I love hunting. So I might start something like that. Fishing down there. I'm going to try to take some time off and kind of gather my thoughts and embrace this new job. Yeah, it's a, it's a master of a job. So your first guest needs to be Jim Shannon, Jim Shannon, fly fishing for reds in the, in the Gulf of Mexico. There you go.

There you go.

Yeah. That's a, that's a deal. Well, Jim, where can everybody find us on social media?

Well, you can find us on YouTube, Instagram, TikTok, Facebook. You can find us on all the social medias. Probably the most important place you'd find us on our private Facebook group called the bourbon roadies. That's where all our good friends hang out. Uh, it's a private group, so you need to join, uh, just search out the bourbon roadies on Facebook. And, uh, as soon as you do, there'll be an opportunity for you to join. And when you do, you'll get three questions. Those questions are, are you 21? Do you like bourbon and you agree a play nice because well, we don't tolerate any rudeness in the bourbon roadies. So if you're going to get on somebody for what they're drinking, if you're not happy with somebody else's choice for the whiskey of the day, uh, you just need to keep it to yourself because if you get out of hand, uh, our moderators will let you know about it.

Yeah, there's some great moderators in there. Uh, Drew, Jason, and Adam, make sure you, uh, Hey, give those guys. Thank you. Make sure you go in there and post. I'll be in a bourbon roadies every once in a while, uh, peeking in there to see what's going on. See, make sure Jim's keeping this thing rolling down a road.

All right. Well, we do two shows every single week. Well, maybe not for the next month or so, but we do two shows every week. Every Monday, we do a craft distillery episode. Every Wednesday, we do a full-length episode like today's. We'll deep dive a subject. This is not a subject I was wanting to deep dive, but nevertheless, we did. We'll have a guest on sometimes. Sometimes we'll drink through several bottles. We'll talk through a subject. You know, it's, uh, it's always a fun time. We'll get you to work and get you back every single week. You can expect this episode from the bourbon road. Mike, what do they have to do to make sure they don't miss one?

one last time listeners you want to scroll on up to the top of that app hit that check sign that plus sign that subscribe sign make sure you hear what jim's got laid down to you about bourbon for the week make sure you do that then you need to scroll on down hit that five star review leave some comments because you know it'll happen the big bad booty daddy of bourbon will come hunt you down knocking on that door, probably going to be dragging some of this Weller antique 107 with him. We'll drink it all night long. By the end of the night, I guarantee you'll leave old Jim a five-star review and some comments. He'd really appreciate it. That's going to open up doors to distilleries to him and his new co-host. It's going to get great whiskey in his hand so they can do great reviews in the future. I'm sure he would appreciate it.

Well, we are very, very approachable and we look forward to hearing from you. If you've got an idea for a show, if you've got an idea for a bottle, if there's a distillery in your hometown doing it right, we want to know about it. We'll make sure that we reach out to them. We get the details. We get the bottle. We'll do a review. We'll make a show out of it. Make sure you reach out to us on our website, the bourbon road.com. There's a contact us page there. You can pop in, leave us a message. We'll make sure to get back to you, but you can always send us an email. I'm Jim at the bourbon road.com. You can always hit us up 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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