320. Introducing Our New Co-Host

Welcome to another great episode of the Bourbon Road with your host, Jim and Brian, where they talk bourbon and of course, drink bourbon. Grab yourself a pour, kick back and enjoy another trip down the Bourbon Road.

We are excited to have back once again for 2023 our sponsor Seldom Seen Farms with their bourbon barrel H maple syrup. Kevin Holley and his staff there do a wonderful job. We're excited to have them sign on again this year to support the bourbon road. and we love their product. And with it being Christmas season, we hope our listeners will visit seldom see maple.com and check out all they have to offer. A lot of great gifts there. Bourbon aged maple syrup, bourbon barrel aged coffee, rick house reserve barbecue sauce you can buy it by the bottle you can buy it by the case you can even get bourbon maple candle and they even have maple cotton candy definitely definitely check out seldom seen maple dot com support our sponsors support kevin and his family there they have a 5 000 maple tap operation in Ohio and they're doing it right. You know, they don't just produce maple syrup. They're also bourbon enthusiasts and we love them to death. Again, go check out seldomseenmaple.com. Kevin and the staff will take care of you. Hello listeners and welcome back to another episode of The Bourbon Road. My name is Jim Shannon. I'm your host today and we are recording from the Bourbon Road Bar, aka my basement. I have a special guest on today, somebody you've been anticipating. Well, we're going to get right into it today because we'd like to introduce this fella. He's been on the show before. You may recognize him. He actually appeared on episode 18. Scroll on back through those episodes. You'll find it, but on episode 18, he was introduced to the podcast. He's a long time roadie, definitely a bourbon lover, a good friend of mine. And I'm welcoming Brian Hyatt. Brian, welcome once again to the bourbon road podcast.

Thank you, Jim. I really appreciate it. Super happy to be here excited, really looking forward to the future and just, uh, all the great opportunities that we have here.

It's gonna be great, it's gonna be a lot of fun. Now, as our listeners know, Mike is moving to Texas and I needed to find another co-host to work with me on the Bourbon Road. And I looked back through some of the episodes we had before and I kinda had some ideas on the kind of host I wanted to get. But I think the number one thing was is they had to love Bourbon and be able to talk intelligently about it. The other thing was, I have to admit, I kind of wanted him to be a veteran. And you are a veteran. That's right. Actually, we're both Navy veterans. You know, with Mike, we had the Coast Guard. Now we've got two Navy vets here. It's kind of tilting in the Navy's favor just a little bit. Just a little bit. All right. So, Brian, I want to take this opportunity today not only to introduce you once again to our listeners, but let them learn just a little bit about you. Because it's one thing to say, hey, he's a Navy vet. He loves bourbon. He's been on the show before. That doesn't really tell them a whole lot, does it? No, it doesn't. So I think what we want to do today is let's start out by talking about bourbon, right? Because one of the things we like to do on the bourbon road is get straight to the whiskey. We've got one of your whiskies in the glass right now.

We do. Absolutely. So, and I believe this may be one that we tasted way back on episode 18 as well.

You know, I'd have to look back at that episode, but it may have been. Absolutely. That was a great episode. That was a blind bottle share. We had four good friends on the show. I think it was Randy and myself and you and Mike Hyatt. So we had us four guys on there and we did a blind bottle share. And guys, if you haven't listened, you need to go back and check it out. It was so much fun.

We're going to have to do another one of those. Absolutely. It was so much fun. I remember I had the old overhauled, uh, on there, which was kind of a curve ball a little bit. I don't know that everybody had had that one.

So that was actually a pretty incredible choice. Now it didn't win, but it could have won. Well, anyway, so we've got JTS Brown in her glass here and what's, what makes JTS Brown special to you?

Well, there's a lot of things that I really love about it. First and foremost, it's extremely easy to get. In Kentucky. In Kentucky. Right. That's right. So you're not going to have to hunt when you're here. You can find it relatively easy and it's just a nice, smooth drink.

So this is a bottled and bond. It means it's four years old. It means it's a hundred proof. It's a Heaven Hill brand. It's available here in Kentucky, and I'm pretty sure that most of our listeners who find their way to the Bourbon Trail, find their way into Kentucky, are looking for a bottle of JTS Brown when they're here, because for the price, it's hard to beat the whiskey, isn't it?

That's right. Absolutely. It's, it's definitely, uh, one that will stand out and, and you're going to get every dollar's worth of it.

So is this, is, would you call this one of your daily whiskeys? It absolutely is. 100%.

Always on your bar. Always on my bar. I have at least two bottles of it at all times.

Well, I say let's go ahead and taste it and talk about it a little bit and, uh, we'll let the listeners know what we think. I think it's been a minute since I've had it. Yeah, it's just a solid bourbon. There's nothing outstanding about it. It doesn't impress you on any front. I think it definitely impresses you on price. Because what are we paying for a bottle of this?

You're looking at anywhere from $16 to $20 a bottle.

That's just a pretty fair price. Now, I remember the days when you could get it cheaper. But bourbon has just gone up in price a little bit. But $16 to $20, depending on where you buy it, a four-year-old 100 proof bourbon and the bourbon notes I'm getting from it are it's a little smoky, but it's still got that sweetness. It does have kind of a corn sweetness to it, but not one that you would get from an overly young bourbon. Doesn't really have an ethanol punch on the nose. I'm ready to taste it though. What do you think? Let's do it. All right. Cheers. Yeah, it's a full bodied flavor. Um, little bit of, uh, like dried cherry, not super sweet. What are your, what are your opinions on it?

Yeah. So, I mean, it's definitely easy. There's not, there's not a lot of burn, which makes it nice when you're going to drink it neat.

Yeah.

Um, so that, that's something that stands out to me when I'm looking at my daily drinks that I like to have is, you know, sometimes I like it hot. Sometimes I just like something nice and smooth without a lot of burn. And that's what this brings to me. I agree a hundred percent on the cherries, the dried cherries.

Now, when you have guests over at your bar and they're not really in tune with bourbon, they're not, they don't have a palette for bourbon. What do you think about this one for, for, for them, you know?

So it's definitely one that, that always try to get everyone to taste. And I do have quite a few bottles in my collection. And one of my rules at my bar is you can taste anything you want, but you're also going to have to taste some things that I want you to taste.

Well, that's fair enough.

And so I have, I have some pretty interesting, uh, whiskeys and bourbons that. You know, definitely you're not top of the line. And if you want to drink something that's really nice, we're going to, we're going to try something that's off the beaten path a little bit.

Well, I think, I think that's a good rule and you know, it makes it interesting when somebody comes to your bar and you're telling them stories, you're offering them pours, you're saying, Hey, try this. Because I think that makes an interesting time. When you go to somebody else's bar, they're taking you on a journey. Right. And it's kind of nice just to sit back and enjoy it.

Yeah. And, and the thing too is, you know, when you jump in and you want to share the experience with everybody, you know, if you have a bottle that's a little bit more difficult to get, you know, let's just say a well or 12 or something that you can't really get as easy, everybody's going to point to that bottle and say, I want that. And that's great. And I want them to have it and I want to share it, but there's so many other options out there that they have an experience that they don't know about.

Sure. Now, do you have any shocker bottles, things that really take people by surprise? Things that maybe, not unicorns, I'm talking about something that has a flavor profile that kind of catches you off guard.

You know, I do. And I've actually, I've got a couple of bottles of whiskey from India.

Okay.

And those really do throw people for a curve.

Now, are they spicy? Are those Indian whiskey spicy?

One of them is a little bit more spicy. The other one just. You know, it's just, it's a total curve ball and, and I love to get that one out. Not every time let someone see what I'm pouring.

Yeah.

Uh, and just say, let me, let me know what you think.

It's pretty cool. So your bar's not just bourbons, right? That's right. You like rice too?

I love rice.

You love rice. That's awesome.

Rye's are one of my favorites. Uh, you know, they're definitely up there. Uh, Angel's Envy Rye was actually one of the first ones that I fell in love with.

Now we've got a couple more bourbons today we're going to drink during the show, and these are all bourbons that you chose to bring on the show today to try and introduce our listeners to you as the new co-host of the Bourbon Road. and just to let them get an idea of who you are and what you like to drink. And we'll work our way through those over the course of the show. But I'm really wondering a little bit more about what you like in spirits altogether. So we talk a lot on the show about bourbon and American whiskey and rye. And sometimes we'll get a malt whiskey on or something like that. But let's talk outside of whiskeys. What about clear liquors? Are there any clear liquors that you really like? Are you a tequila guy?

So I am definitely a tequila guy. I actually had a pretty fantastic tequila the other day down at the Louisville Thoroughbred Society. They have a fantastic collection there. So that's probably the second stop for me would be to go to tequila. Um, I also really enjoy gins, uh, you know, depending on what gin it is, I really liked that floral taste and, and the notes that come from that. Uh, you can get some pretty unique gins. Uh, so those are a lot of fun for me.

Not vodka.

Vodka I do like, however, I'm not going to drink it straight.

Yeah, me neither. What's the point, right? Right.

What about rums? Actually, I really do like rums as well. Ron's a Kappa XO. Definitely my favorite. Not always very affordable, but it is a very sweet, complex rum.

Well, that's pretty awesome. So really you kind of touch all the bases out there when it comes to spirits. Uh, are you, are you drinking any of this new canned stuff at all? Like, uh, canned cocktails and things like that.

So I have tried some, uh, you know, I'm not really a big fan to be honest. Uh, if I'm going to have a cocktail, I'd like to either mix it myself or have a really good bartender. That's going to make sure that it's, uh, the way that I like it. Sure. Um, but the canned I have had some recently and I just, uh, not, not really my cup of tea.

All right. Well, you know, on the bourbon road, we always say, you're bourbon your way, right? So everybody gets to drink bourbon the way they like it. And I guess we don't really know what your way is yet. We know you like JTS Brown, so that's a nice glimpse into your daily drinker. Let me ask you this question. Ice or no ice?

No ice.

No ice. Okay. Do you ever add ice to a whiskey?

Very, very rarely. Okay. And it really doesn't matter. The proof doesn't matter. The heat. I am. I like my neat.

You like it neat. And that's perfectly great. And it's also great folks. If you like to add a little whiskey to your ice, if it cools it down for you a little bit, especially on a hot summer day. Um, what about mixers, cocktails, not no, no, let's not go to cocktails. Let's talk about high balls for a moment. Um, mule or like. Coke and bourbon, you know, which, which one do you prefer?

So I grew up on Coke and bourbon. Well, I can't say that I grew up on Coke and bourbon when I was of age to start drinking Coke and bourbon was definitely the first stop for me. Uh, typically at Caneland, uh, when we go to the horse races, I'm a Lexington boy and, uh, makers and Coke at Caneland was, that's what kind of got it all started for me.

Yeah. Now you actually attended the university of Kentucky. You graduated from the university of Kentucky. What did you do while you were there? Were you, were you in the sports a lot?

I was in sports a lot. Um, now I didn't play sports or anything, but, uh, once I finished up and started, uh, working and everything actually went back and worked with several media outlets, uh, covering UK athletics, everything from basketball to football, women's basketball, uh, swimming track. covered a little bit of everything.

So this is not your first time on air.

That's correct.

So being in front of a microphone with a headset on and bantering back and forth with a co-host is something that you've done in the past.

Done it a few times.

Yeah, just a few times. Well, that's great. We don't do a lot of sports here, but you know, I guess you could call drinking bourbon a sport, maybe. It definitely can be that. All right. Well, O'Brien, I'm enjoying the JTS brand. I'll just say one more time, a good choice, a very good choice as a daily drinker. Certainly something that you can have in the house. Go through a bottle every now and then and not worry so much that you're, you're breaking the bank, right? That's right. It's good, solid, and you can make any, make any cocktail you want out of it. It'll, it'll shine through, I think. That's right.

And I haven't had a single person say, don't pour that for me ever again.

I mean, if it was in a decanter, if it was in a glass decanter, no bottle label, anything, just a clear glass decanter and you're pouring people bourbons from it, I don't think anybody's going to complain.

I don't think so either. And that's another great point is I do love to do blind tastings with people at my bar in my house. And this is one that makes the blind tasting opportunities for my friends that come over. So it's always interesting where it ends up.

So when they ask you what it is, you can always just say, well, it's not Pappy. Right?

That's right.

All right. Well, I think it's time for us to maybe move on to the next pour and you can tell our listeners a little bit about why this is on your list today. And we'll go from there.

So the next one on my list is four roses, single barrel.

Okay. Awesome. Awesome. I had one on the bar here. And you had mentioned to me that Four Rows of Single Barrel was kind of on your short list of bourbons you like to have around all the time. And I just finished a bottle, the only bottle I had off the bar. So you had to bring another one. That's right. So which Four Rows of Single Barrel do you have here? Or can you tell us a little bit about the label on this one?

Absolutely. This is 100 proof, single barrel. This is not a barrel pick or anything like that. This is out of warehouse CS and barrel number 28. All right.

Well, there's, there's a lot of four roses lovers out there and a lot of them listen to the bourbon road podcast and you can really geek out on four roses. I mean, they've got a lot of recipes and yeast strains and all kinds of things that makes the variety of bourbons that they're able to offer pretty tremendous. This is just a standard single barrel to a hundred proof. What does this usually go for?

So back when I first started buying this, I really enjoyed the price points because, you know, it was, it was well under $40. Um, now you're looking more in the 40 to 50 range.

Most of the time it's gone up a little bit, but you know, let's be honest, most, most bourbons have increased in price just a little bit.

They've had some fantastic barrel picks as well for the single barrel.

Yeah, I've had a few of those myself. We have had Four Roses on the show before. We've had our hands on a few pretty good bottles. It just so happens that I ran out. And I actually, I'm just going to say, sorry Four Roses, but I don't have any Four Roses on my bar right now. And that's a shame because normally that's not the case. It just so happened that I've kind of drunk through it. I always enjoy the floral notes and the fruitiness of Four Roses Bourbons, and they all differ just a little bit. And the single barrels are widely varied.

And they're easy to drink through. That's why you did.

So this is something that you, in addition to the JTS Brown, this is something that is always on your bar. You always have one of these around. That's right. All right. Well, let's check it out. Oh, that's very nice. It's definitely a little bit Oak forward. I'm getting a, like a, a light fruity note on it on the nose. Definitely that caramels and vanilla is that you always get, but it's got a little bit of a spicy back note on it and I haven't tasted it yet. That's just my nose.

That's definitely what stood out to me was the spice on the back end of that.

Let's taste it. Cheers. Cheers. Now that's definitely a different animal than the JTS Brown. I'm definitely saying it's elevated just a little bit. I'm feeling a lot more oak in the back of this pallet, a lot more viscosity. It's still 100 proof, but it's a little bit more viscous than the JTS Brown.

There's definitely more going on with this than the JTS Brown for sure.

Yeah. When I go back to the nose, the great thing about this, this four rows of single barrel is you nose it for a minute. You make your notes and you take a sip. And when you go back to the nose, they're elevated. Those notes are elevated, but you know what? They're the same notes and they're the same notes you get on your palate, which means it's, it's, it's a good match between nose and palate. I think it's a fruity, spicy, oaky, just, uh, just a nice balanced, uh, bourbon. It's very aromatic and, uh, it's definitely a step up from the JTS Brown. I like JTS Brown, but this is, this is a step up and this is a really good bottle. Yeah, this is really good. So what do you typically do with your four rows of single barrel? Is that always neat pours?

Always neat pours.

So you're never mixing that one. That's right. And you share that with your friends and whoever else comes to the house. What about Leslie, your wife, and let's bring her into the mix here. Does she like drinking bourbon?

No, but, but the beautiful thing is she loves the way that bourbon smells on me. So when I drink bourbon, she's always made the comment that, that she loves the smell that, that she gets from whenever I get close to her and I have it in my hand. And then after I drank a little bit, if I am close to her, she's like, I really enjoy the smell.

Oh my gosh. So bourbon, yeah, bourbon is your cologne for your wife, right?

That's right. That's pretty darn cool. It's a nice thing.

Well, Leslie and Melody, my wife, have been friends for a very long time. You and I have been friends for a very long time, certainly predating the Bourbon Road.

That's right.

We attended church together and we've had a lot of... gatherings and events and fun times. We do have some history, I should say. So it's pretty awesome that we get to spend more time together. I would say for the past couple of years, we haven't had a chance to hang out a whole lot.

Yeah, I think once, you know, COVID kind of came into the picture and things were a little bit more difficult, uh, to get around and everything, uh, you know, things slowed down a little bit then, but, but I will say one of my favorite trips that I ever did, uh, was when we went down to Woodford reserve and we were able to go to the lunch and do the tastings. And then we stopped through a couple of other distilleries, Castle and Key being one, um, And that was just a really cool experience and especially to do that with you. Um, we had a lot of fun on that one.

That was a lot of fun. So we, we, we visited, oh, so it was Castle and Key and Woodford reserve. I think we went to Jephthah Creed. We went and had lunch at the stave or something. We'd go to stave and eat lunch. I think we did. Yeah. But when we were at Woodford reserve. Elizabeth McCall, well, used to be Elizabeth McCall. Elizabeth walked us to the distillery. We climbed through the ricks and she was drilling barrels for us. We had a wonderful day. Ate a great meal there. I'll never forget that day. It was pretty amazing. And maybe sometime we can do that again real soon. That'd be fun.

That would be a lot of fun. That was a really, really cool trip. And I remember just several of the barrels that we got to drill, made some metal notes of those, and they were pretty unique.

So I mentioned earlier on that not only were you a bourbon lover, but you also have some ties to the industry. So let's talk about that a little bit. You just brought up Castle and Key. You've done some work with Castle and Key, right?

Yeah. Yeah. I've done a little bit of work with those guys and have really enjoyed that and the experience there. I'm just trying to help through some different things from a technology standpoint with websites and all that good stuff.

So your day job? is that you, well, why don't you tell our listeners what your day job is.

So my day job is I do pretty much run operations at a digital marketing agency here in Louisville and do everything from running Google ads to SEO to all the, all the fun strategy that goes behind trying to promote businesses. Um, a very rapidly growing business that, uh, especially in 2020 started to really take off. Uh, so we've had some pretty cool opportunities to work with a lot of different folks. Um, you know, Castle and Key being one of those and, and we've done some, uh, creative work for Blanton's in the past, which has also been, you know, a really cool journey there and, and aided in some different things, uh, along those lines.

And you've got some, you've got some friends and ties with distillery startups and some other things that are going on. So I would just say that it's, it's fair to say that you're, you're pretty well embedded in the industry already, but you're going to appreciate the opportunities that being on a podcast provide as well.

Absolutely. I'm super excited about all of the opportunities and just being able to get to meet more folks with whiskey and bourbon. It really provides you with an opportunity to develop relationships and share cool stories with other people. And so understanding, you know, that part of it, that's very exciting for me.

And if you're in the Louisville area, and I'm going to expand that out. If you're in the Louisville, Frankfurt, Lexington, Bardstown area of Kentucky, they'll call it the Greater Bourbon Trail. It doesn't matter what your business is. You could be a hotel in downtown, or you could be a newspaper, or you could be a restaurant. It doesn't really matter what your business is, you're going to have ties to Bourbon. It's going to happen because that's kind of what we do here in Kentucky. We do horses and bourbon and you can't help but be involved in conversations and gatherings and events and parties and whatever it might be. It's always about horses and bourbon here. And it's nice to be in the mix. I do enjoy it.

Oh yeah, it's going to be a lot of fun. And, and, you know, I look forward to having the opportunity to grow and share my experiences with everyone and just look for new opportunities.

Absolutely. Well, I know our listeners are excited to meet you. Some of them may have already met you at one event or another. But we'll have some opportunities in the future where we'll be getting out and having events and going to distilleries and, you know, visiting liquor stores and doing tastings and things like that. And I know our listeners are going to look forward to meeting you and shaking your hand and introducing themselves. But you are Brian Hyatt. You are... Oh, and by the way, we need to clarify that, right? Hyatt spelled with H-Y-A-T-T. And of course, Mike Hyatt, our departing co-host who we love dearly and we wish him the best is H-I-A-T-T. So you may have had some kind of mixing of the blood back generations ago, but you're not the same family.

That's correct. It's just an unusual circumstance that you have the same last name.

All right, Brian. Well, it's been a great first half. I think we've given our listeners just a sneak peek into who you are, but we're going to talk more in the second half. We've got some more whiskies that you brought. I think we're going to elevate it just a little bit more. And we'll talk a little bit about the vision for the Bourbon Road going forward. Certainly I've mentioned in the last episode that when Mike departed, he's kind of leaving a black hole. Black hole meaning he's a tough act to follow, and I don't think we can. So we just have to create something new here.

That's right.

And so we're going to talk a little bit in the second half while we're drinking this elevated bourbon that you have for us. And we'll talk a little bit about, you know, what we have planned for 2023 and beyond. And I'm excited.

I'm excited.

All right.

Let's take a break.

Folks, we definitely encourage you to check out seldomseenmaple.com. That's Seldom Seen Farms. Kevin Holley and his staff there are doing a fantastic job. And like we said at the beginning of the show, you know, they've got a 5,000 maple tap operation. They're a first-generation farmer with a passion to produce the very best maple products available. They've won so many awards and they have a very special unique aging method for their syrup and for their barrel-aged coffee. They provide quality at a very affordable price. You know, they're not a maple factory or a co-packer. Kevin and his staff there are farmers with a passion for maple. Like I said before, Kevin is a bourbon enthusiast. He's not just a paid sponsor. He's a friend of the show. He's a roadie. and he loves helping roadies get down the bourbon road. Make sure you check out seldomseenmaple.com. You know, they're constantly producing great bourbon-aged maple syrups using barrels from the very best distilleries. They also return those barrels to the distilleries afterwards. Distilleries like New Riff, Leapers Fork, Treaty Oak Distilling, The Bar Distillery, Pine Bluffs Distilling, Mystic Farm and Distillery, Jay Ryger, So many more to come. Kevin and his staff there just spreading the love, spreading the maple syrup, making it happen. And you know, at the end of the day, those barrels that age that maple syrup get refilled with some wonderful bourbon and make some great maple finished bourbon whiskey. How awesome is that? Definitely check out seldom seen maple.com. Get yourself.

All right, listeners, we are back.

My name is Jim Shannon. Of course I've got Brian Hyatt in the house, our new co-host of The Bourbon Road. Again, I'd just like to say happy trails to Mike. Good fortune and congratulations on that amazing new job that you got in Texas. We all wish you the best and we hope we get to drink just a few more pours with you. We're going to miss you old pal. But I have to say, Brian, that as we were sipping on the rest of that four roses during the break, I think we both came to the same conclusion, that particular barrel's a little bit special.

It was very special to me. Um, you know, like you said, when you first, uh, when you first took a little sip of that and everything with the spice and just the complexity of it, it w it was a little bit different and compared to some of the recent bottles that I've had, this one definitely stands out quite a bit.

Yeah. And it kind of opened up a little bit and kind of mellowed, uh, after we had it in the glass a little bit. So just folks, just keep that in mind. You know, if, if you pour from the neck of a bottle. After you open it and you take that first sip and it's not exactly what you were looking for Give it a few minutes set it down Go have a glass of water You know come back and revisit it a few minutes later and you might find that it has developed into something altogether different Whiskeys do change.

That's right. Some people love to drop a little drop of water in there and that can change things quite a bit as well.

Absolutely. Absolutely. I've done that a few times. I don't usually have an eyedropper around, but you can, you can use like a little cap or something or a spoon, right? Just a few drops, right?

I don't do it, but I know a lot of folks that do.

It does change and release some aromatics in the whiskey, and that's kind of nice. Well, Brian, we talked a little bit in the first half about the two bourbons that are kind of your dailies, but I want to kind of elevate it a little bit, or you want to elevate it a little bit in the second half and let listeners know when you're reaching a little bit higher on the shelf, what you're reaching for. And this is at home, right? Right.

Absolutely.

You go to the bar, you're looking at all the, all the bourbons, but at home, this is kind of up at the top. And so what do we have?

So when I'm reaching a little bit higher up on the shelf there, I'm usually going for the blends. Uh, Blanton's is a very popular choice, of course. And, and, you know, with it being a single barrel and, and everything, you know, it's, it's one of those that can really change quite a bit from a barrel to barrel. Um, so you can get quite a bit of movement between each bottle that you have, but I've always found it to be pretty solid. Um, and obviously it's very cool as well. You know, you have the horse with the letters and you can get the stave and, and build on quite a bit with, with the whole experience from playing.

Well, the Blanton's bottles are definitely unique and, and, you know, you mentioned in the first half that you've done some work with Blanton's directly and you've certainly worked with their international team on some, uh, marketing things. But, uh, so you might be able to get a bottle of Blanton's. Because, you know, a few people, I don't know, the rest of us have a hard time. That's right.

Every, every now and then I may have a bottle that's sent to me that, that I really do greatly appreciate and, uh, have some opportunities to, to taste some pretty unique and cool, uh, Blanton's bottles that are out there.

And we're going to have one of those later. That's right. All right. I'm looking forward to it.

But what's in our glass right now?

This is the standard, right?

This is the standard. So this one actually is a bottle that is from the UK, even though it's a traditional Blanton's bottle. This was a bottle that was sent to me from a friend of mine as well, from overseas. This one was dumped on August the 15th, 2018. Barrel number 1191, of course, warehouse H. Always warehouse H. Always.

The brick warehouse. That's right. So if you've been to the Buffalo Trace distillery and you've taken the tour there, you know that the Blanton's warehouse is the brick warehouse in the center of the facility there.

That's where all the magic happens. All the magic for sure. And so Rick number 10, this one was bottled at 93 proof. And this is a very nice pour. This was bottle number nine that was poured out of that barrel. Wow.

Pretty cool.

Well, you're just about, it's just about empty. There's not a whole lot left in this one. This one has lasted, you know, close to four years for me.

Wow. That's amazing. Well, when you take the picture, you take that money shot for the show, you're going to have an empty bottle in that shot.

I am quite all right. And there, there's, there's been a lot of good pours out of this bottle and some cool stories. Uh, so all true, all true stories. I'm ready to taste this with Jim and, and see what his thoughts are.

All right, Brian. Well, let's, let's check it out. It has been just a minute since I've had a blends pour. And, and folks don't feel, don't feel sorry. If you, if you haven't had one recently, Jim's in the same boat. I haven't had a Blanton's pour and probably six months or greater. And you know, I've got, I've got a bottle up there. It's a mini. Yes, you do. That's all I got. I don't have a full bottle of blends.

I will say my wife really likes the minis. She always says they're very cute.

Yeah. Well, she's got to have it. You can take it. You can take it. I'll be okay with that. All right. Well, I love the nose on that caramel. Definitely a little bit of Berry note to it, but it's, it's, it's just nice and gentle and, uh, well balanced. It's got a little bit of that, that nutmeggy baking spice kind of flavor to it. I mean, I'm nose. I'm talking about the nose now. It never, it never takes you by surprise. It just pleases.

That's right. So I definitely feel like this one is very gentle on the nose. Uh, very easy. I do pick up the nutmeg just as you have picked up as well. So totally, totally picking up on that one. Uh, but just gentle, very, very easy.

Yeah, I would say that the spice cabinets in there a little bit. I mean, it's definitely a Rye bourbon. There's no doubt about it. It's got, it's got a nice, uh, sort of a gentle spice that comes through, uh, just maybe a light clove and a little bit of nutmeg. A little bit of cinnamon, maybe not too much cinnamon, cause it's definitely not by any means spicy. Uh, but it does have that, uh, that fruity berry note to it for me. And, uh, it's just a, just a nice, nice nose. I think we should taste it.

Let's do it. I'm ready for this one.

Yeah. Wow. A lot of oak on that palette. Um, a little bit drying, but light, uh, not heavy and viscous. I can get a lot of the fruit on the palette.

Not a lot of fruit on the palette. Definitely. Like you said, a little bit more drying.

Yeah. I would say that for me, a very, very nice, well-aged oak note to it. Not a lot of new oak, mostly kind of, you know, well-aged oak. Still getting the spice cabinet, a little bit more rye coming through on the palette. It is a little drying on the back end. I'm getting a little bit of that tannic property, but I just think oak is a little bit more overpowering in this. I still think it's an easy drinker. It's a, we're not going to call it watery, but certainly At 93, we just had a couple of hundred proof bourbons and we're drinking a 93 proof bourbon. I guess it's expected that it might be a little bit lighter on our tongue, right?

It's definitely a little bit lighter. I do pick up a little more spice on the palate than I did the nose.

For me, I've always been a fan of Blanton's. Haven't really been a fan of the fact that I can't get it when I want it, but you know, we're all in the same boat here. Just cause we have a bourbon podcast doesn't mean we're walking in to grab our Blanton's whenever we want it. I haven't had one in a while. You have a little bit better chance of getting one than I do. You know, you know, a few people, you know, a guy.

I know a guy, but that definitely does not mean that I get Blanton's, you know, all that often. Sure. You know, every now and then I'm gifted something that, that is special and I really appreciate those.

Yeah, I know. We went to Michter's and you know, Dan and Andrea down at Michter's, they told us, they said, you know, you guys think we all get all these wonderful bottles because I'm the master distiller and she's the master of maturation and we've run the company down here for Michter's. He said, but honestly, we don't, we can't get them either. They're on allocation and we'd love to have a Michter's 20 or a Michter's 10, but we don't get our own bottles of that.

That's right. There's a lot of roles.

We get to drink them when you guys come here to record a podcast. So yeah, I guess knowing a guy doesn't necessarily mean automatic access to a bottle. And actually I love the idea that the bottles, as many bottles as possible are getting out there to the masses and people can find them on the shelves. A few people can find them on the shelves and they're not getting all, You know, quarantined away by collectors.

That's right. I absolutely love that. I love it. When, when normal folks can just walk up, they don't have to have a special connection or anything. They can walk in and get something. A really cool story for me and Jim, I may have shared with this one with you previously, but, uh, many years ago, I really wanted a bottle of Pappy. I wasn't going to camp out. I tried that several times. We did together. We camped out together. Yeah. Um, and this was actually before, before we camped out. And so I sent an email to a whole bunch of folks at, uh, at Pappy. And someone very generous emailed me back and said, we really want you to have a bottle. Here's where you can go pick it up. And, uh, and I was very fortunate to get a bottle of Pappy 23 for retail price.

Now that somebody would have, would have had to been somebody high up in the PAPI organization, I would imagine.

That's right. May have had a Van Winkle last name. Yeah.

Pretty awesome. Yeah. I think he had told me that story one time and, and you know, that just goes to show you that, you know, there's a heart in there somewhere. I think times have changed though. They probably are not doing that so much anymore.

I don't, I don't think so. You know, it's, it's changed so much over the last, uh, 10, 15 years, just, you know, with how people interact and, and how many people are really searching, uh, for, and I, and I do think that, uh, the distilleries really do appreciate the folks that are not buying to flip.

Yeah, absolutely. Now you don't have any more of that Pappy 23, right? I do not. Oh darn. I was going to say, let's go try something.

Let's go do that.

Not a problem. You know, I've had, I've had the 15 and the 20 and the 23. I've also had the, uh, the van Winkle, the 10 year, I guess it is. And then the lot B, which is the 12 year, it's been years since I've had them, but I've had them all. I've had them all as pours in a bar where I've had them as a guest at somebody's bar. And I feel like, uh, I've been exposed and I got to taste them and I've been able to make my, my opinion on them and they're wonderful, wonderful bourbons. It's just that me personally, I can't pay the price in the secondary. I just can't do it.

I agree. A hundred percent. You know, I believe the, I heard of a bottle for, uh, going for 5,000 the other day and, and as much as I love it, You know, it's really hard to make that decision to say I'm going to spend $5,000 on a bottle of bourbon.

Now I've heard, and you may have been the one that told me this, that it's expected that this year's release of Pappy is larger than normal.

That's what I've heard. I've also heard that the 15 year is supposed to be pretty special this year.

Oh, good. Well, just maybe our luck may hold out. We do have friends out there. When I say friends, I don't mean people at Pappy Co and Pappy and other places like that, but we have friends at liquor stores who we consistently buy from who may remember us when the big day comes, right?

That's right. I don't know.

I hope so. I certainly hope so. I shop primarily at my local store here in Simpsonville, Kentucky. And I guess you have your store as well. Uh, do you typically go back to the same store all the time?

So I do. I have a couple of stores that I go to. Um, you say, Hey, Brian, when you walk in the door, I actually have one in Licenten that I absolutely love. Uh, I really only go down there, uh, two or three times a year. It's a Kroger and he always saves me something every Thanksgiving and every Christmas. He has something held back for me. Um, and just really cool guy developed a great relationship with him. And every time I walked through. He's like, Hey, I've got something for you. So it could be a EH Taylor. It could be a Blanton's. It could be, you know, just a Weller special reserve or something, you know, that's a little bit more difficult. Sure.

That's pretty awesome. Now we just went to the, we just went to the liquor store over in Simpsville here a while ago and walked in the store and a fellow said, Hey Jim, how's it going? And. I did introduce you to him. So if you need anything from the Simpsonville store, now he knows who you are. Maybe, maybe he'll find something for you. He's usually got some pretty good bottles in there. You know, you've got your own store, so. Well, you know, Brian, one of the things that I kind of wanted to do in 2023 is introduce a little bit more bourbon news in the show. And I talked to you about that. I talked to you about the fact that I think our listeners are always hungry for what's going on in the bourbon world. And I think we can talk about some of those things. And certainly this idea that Pappy's has got a larger than normal release this year is something that's interesting. You actually heard that from Tyler Wilson, right?

Right. Good friend of mine, Tyler Wilson. Very plugged into the industry. intelligent guy that just kind of keeps up with the most recent news and all of the cool happenings that are going on or even potential new opportunities that are coming down the pike with everything.

Well, absolutely. I think we can go ahead and announce now that in addition to you coming on as the co-host, Tyler is also joining the Bourbon Road as our new producer. And he'll be producing the bourbon road podcast. That's pretty cool.

Pretty cool. And he's going to bring a lot of, uh, knowledge and, and everything when it comes to social media for us and, and do a great job. So we're really looking forward to, you know, what's going to happen with TikTok. Uh, TikTok is a whole different animal and there's a lot of really cool content on there. And so we're really looking forward to growing some different opportunities here.

Yeah, absolutely. I'm excited about the future. I think things are definitely going to be different going forward. It'll be nice to have a little bit of extra help. I know that running a podcast and running all the social media outlets that are tied to a podcast and a website And all the other things that we do, it's a lot of work. And it's a lot of work for two people. I can attest to that. It can be even more work when you start to add new things to what you're doing. Like, for example, we talked about adding more news in 2023 to the show. So we're going to have a new segment on many of the shows where we actually review some of the things going on in the industry. That takes time to research and put together. Another thing we talked about, and that's probably a great time to talk about this, is what's coming new. One of the things we talked about was more barrel picks. The Bourbon Road needs to do more barrel picks. We need to make more bottles available to our listeners. They've been asking us continuously. They loved our last pick, and they've been asking us continuously, when are you doing another pick? When's it going to come? 2023 will be the year of barrel picks for the, for the bourbon road. So we've got a lot more going on. You've got some ideas.

Definitely have some ideas. I think there's some really cool things. And I agree that the barrel pick that, that you guys did, it was phenomenal. I loved it.

Well, when this trail was just, was hitting on all, well, they still are hitting on all cylinders. And when we went down there, we got one phenomenal bottle. Actually, we ended up getting more than one barrel. We got three barrels out of it, but, uh, those, those bottles are all but gone now and people are hungry for more. I guess we're going to have to do it.

I've held on to my one bottle.

Yeah.

Actually, I think I purchased three bottles, but I've got one left. I've been holding onto that one. I share that every, that's one in my, in my bar that I don't always share with everybody. It's got a story though. It has a story and I keep it and I only break it out honestly on special occasions because it has such a cool story.

And I just wonder how much stuff is going to change with, uh, with wilderness trail distillery now that there, there's some news for you, right?

There's some news.

What's happening at wilderness trail.

So yeah, wilderness trail actually, um, they're going through an acquisition right now. Um, they are going to be selling off 70% of the company to Campari, uh, an Italian company. And Capari also owns wild Turkey, right? That's right. Absolutely.

So they, they have been actually very busy with Wild Turkey doing some expansions and things in recent, in recent times, but now they've reached out and they have decided to buy 70% actually going to buy the whole thing, right?

They're going to buy the whole thing by 2031.

2031. Okay. So they're buying 70% of wilderness trail distillery. Pat and Shane have built that from the ground up and got it to a point where Campari wanted to come in and pay big money for it. How much did they pay for it?

So for the 70% stake, they're actually going to pay 420 million.

But they'll sell off the other 30% at a later date. And then Pat and Shannon will be out, I guess, at some point. And it'll be a Campari owned distillery entirely.

70% gets you control though. 70% gets you control.

And, and Pat and Shane, I mean, if you have any trouble figuring out what to do with $420 million, don't forget old Jim.

I'd be happy to come have a pour with you.

Uh, no, those guys are great. They're wonderful. They've, they've earned every penny of this. They have, they have, uh, taking chances, invested, worked hard, very smart guys. They've done a great job and good for them to get their payday. That's so amazing. I love it so much.

Yeah. So, and, and there's some other great, uh, great things happening around, you know, in the bourbon industry and, and like Jim said, we'll dig more into those, uh, in 2023, really excited about sharing all this great information. Um, you know, a couple of other things that, that have just been released in the last week, uh, you know, bird, a Bardstown bourbon company is actually going to be bringing a location to whiskey row here in Louisville. And they're going to have some pretty cool offerings there, a bar and storefront. They're going to have some opportunities for classroom learning when it comes to bourbon so that you can just increase your knowledge when it comes to this.

I heard they were going to have an educational aspect to the new facility down there. You know, I have reached out to Danny to try and get them on the show here pretty soon so we can get the full story on this new facility downtown. And I'm pretty excited about it. I love to see. the downtown whiskey experience in Louisville get more and more inclusive, more distilleries down there now. It does seem a little weird that you got Bardstown bourbon company in downtown Louisville, but you know what? It's important because that's where people go when they fly into experience the bourbon trails, they fly into Louisville. So I'm excited for that. We'll have them on the show, hopefully here in the near future and we can talk about it. A lot of great stuff going on, a lot of industry news. I hope that we can dig in a little bit on some craft distilleries too, some new upstarts. During the month of December, well, certainly during the second half of November and the month of December, we'll be taking a break from our Monday episodes. To try and get a handle on things now that Mike is no longer with us and we'll start those up again as soon as time permits. But for the moment, we're not going to be releasing any Monday night episodes. So folks don't be sad. Don't be upset with us. We're doing the best we can. We're holding the show together here. We will make sure without a doubt that there'll be an episode out every single Wednesday, full length, just like always one hour in length. We'll get you both ways to work and it'll be a great time. Well, Brian, I've been waiting the whole show for this bourbon here. You told me what it was. We kind of hinted to the listeners that we're going to have a special Blanton's on, but what do we have in our glass for this last few minutes of this bourbon road episode?

So Jim, this is a really special bottle. This is a bottle that was sent to me from overseas. Um, this is the 2020 special release of blends. Just, just a fantastic, very cool drinking experience.

I see a gold shiny horse on top. I see a 700 mil bottle instead of a 750 mil bottle and a green neck wrapping and green label. Not everybody can get their hands on this one. And this is one of those bottles that you get on your bar or you share with a friend or you share with our listeners that they may not otherwise be able to get their hands on.

Absolutely, and it has a really cool box as well. The box follows kind of the same pattern where it's green and it has the gold and just a really unique pick for this 2020 release. So a little bit about this bottle. It was dumped on October 19th, 2020. Barrel number 371. Again, warehouse H just like all the other plans and Rick number 32. This is a 117 proof. Wow. So the standard releases 93, 117.

Whoa.

So you're starting to get up there closer to the, uh, the straight from the barrel, uh, releases that come out that are international bourbons as well. Uh, so a little bit more heat coming in a little bit more proof, but you're not going to pick up as much as the heat as you do from some of the straight from the barrels that are released.

Got it. And what are the proofs on some of those usually?

So I've seen those all the way from one 23 up to one 32.

Okay. All right. And, and you know who was involved in, in this particular bottle?

Yes. I know, I know the gentleman that made the pick, uh, on this bottle. And, uh, I can say he does a very good job picking.

Yeah. Well, I know this individual as well and we won't, we won't, we won't talk about his name on, on air cause we haven't gotten his permission, but certainly, uh, Brian, he's a good friend of yours and wonderful that you were able to get your hands on this bottle, share it with me and share it with our listeners. Let's check it out. Oh, now see when you nose on this one, you got to be careful because this isn't the 93. It's got a little bit more ethanol there, doesn't it?

It absolutely does.

And this is a little bit more richer in on the nose. It's got a little bit more of that deep caramel and baking spice note to it. I'm getting more of the rice spice with it, a little less of the fruit. Little pepper.

There's definitely more pepper, um, more spice, you know, the heat is elevated, uh, quite a bit from, from the other Blanton's that we had.

All right. Well, let's taste it. Cheers.

Cheers.

Oh my goodness. That's thick, like motor oil. Very, very viscous, very wonderfully. and coating, velvety, maybe a little waxy even.

Definitely. When you, when you look back at what we had a few minutes ago with, with the single barrel, it's quite a bit different.

There's none of these bottles out there anymore. Right. And we're just basically drinking a bottle that is kind of a little bit of a unicorn.

It's, it's definitely a little bit of a unicorn. Uh, you know, I know that there's, there's obviously different opportunities to try to get a bottle like this, but, uh, but this is, this is a one-time, one-time shot. They're not going to, you know, have the same barrel again. Uh, this was a one-time pick that, uh, that is definitely unique.

So if you're in Paris, go to Masson de Whisky, right? They'll have it.

That's right. And I believe, I know they carry it in Greece and, uh, you know, several other countries, uh, as well, but, uh, you're not going to find it here on the shelf in the U S I only know a couple of places that have this bottle, even in the bar. Yeah. But yeah, it's, it's not one that you see very often.

Do they have this one in the bar at the thoroughbred society? They do. They do.

So they have the 2019, the two that, well, they have actually have a lot. A lot of them, but I know they have the 2019, the 2020. They also have some of the Polish picks. They have the Greek label, which is a beautiful label. Very beautiful label.

Wow. Pretty, pretty fantastic. Well, I joined you at the Louisville Thurbride Society a few weeks back. I had a great time. I'm sort of on the fence, right? I'm trying to figure it out if I can, but I understand the waiting list there to become a member is just backed up, right?

They do have a little bit of a waiting list.

Yeah. So what happens? Somebody has to quit?

Right. Somebody just pulls out and says, Hey, you know, for whatever reason, one or another, I'm not going to continue on. And then whoever's next up on that list, that's who gets called up. And you have the option to become a member.

Well, it's a fantastic place. You know, and I know that they have a particular membership for people who live outside of Louisville if you're traveling in once in a while. So there may be some of those available. I don't know.

I'm not sure if those are available or not, but we can definitely find out and share that information.

Well, we'll do another show at the Thoroughbred Society. I mean, you work right next door to it. You're a frequent traveler at the little Thoroughbred Society.

Very frequent.

So I'm hoping that we'll get in there and we'll do a show there and talk to the important people inside and see if we can't sort of give a picture to our listeners of what's going on there. Pretty fun.

It's a, it's a beautiful, uh, beautiful setting and they have a phenomenal, uh, old dusty collection. I've, I've had bourbons all the way from, uh, late 1800s, 1915 was the most recent that I had.

Wow. I remember the night we were there, we had that, uh, that golden wedding. Yeah, we had golden wedding. We had a sixties, four roses. We had a great, great urban supreme. Yeah. Big, big bow. We had a bourbon supreme.

Oh my goodness.

Yeah, it was a nice dusty night. We had a good time there. Great place. Well, Brian, I think we've done a fairly good job of introducing you to the listeners, letting them know who you are, where you come from, what bourbon means to you, what you like to drink, what some of your philosophies are in bourbon. I think they probably sensed you're excited about the future and recording episodes with the Bourbon Road. So listeners, I hope it's been a good episode for you. I hope Brian and you get a chance to meet at some point. Again, he's in the roadies, so say hey to him, welcome him as a co-host. I'm sure he'll pop into the roadies here and say hey to everybody. But I think we had four really good bourbons tonight. We got to take a glimpse into you and who you are and have kind of a nice episode. We're going to get busy next week, right? We're going to start having some guests on the show. We're going to start traveling around a little bit. We'll start arranging those barrel picks that we talked about. Uh, but in the meantime, you know, Brian, thank you so much for stepping into the bourbon road bar this morning. Thank you so much also for stepping up as our new cohost. We also welcome Tyler Wilson, who wasn't able to be here tonight, but he's the new producer of the bourbon road. We'll make sure to get him on an episode and get him introduced at some point in the near future. But folks, you can find us on all the social medias. You can find us on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, YouTube. You can find us on TikTok even, believe it or not. You can also find us on our private Facebook group, The Bourbon Roadies. We've talked about that several times tonight. That's our private Facebook page for our listeners. Simply search out The Bourbon Roadies on Facebook. You'll get presented with three questions to join. Do you like bourbon? Are you 21? And do you agree to play nice? Because we don't put up with any rudeness inside of that group. If your goal is to come in and slam people for the kind of bourbons they choose to drink, then you won't last very long. And that's why our members are only at 3000 because we've booted so many. We get rid of so many members who just can't play nice. You got to play nice to be in there. We're doing an episode every single week on Wednesdays. We'll release it on Tuesday night. We'll actually have Wednesday morning at 1 a.m. It's a full-length episode. We give you about an hour in content. We give you 30 minutes to get to work and 30 minutes to get home every single week. We hope you tune in. For the moment, we're pausing our Monday night episodes, our craft distillery episodes, just until we can get through the end of the year. We'll start that back up as soon as the operation permits it. But we want to make sure that you don't miss a single episode of the Bourbon Road. In order to do that, make sure that you get on that podcast app you're on, that whether it be Google podcasts or Apple podcasts or whatever it might be that you listen on, make sure you get on there and you subscribe to the Bourbon Road. That way you get that bell notification every single week when an episode comes out and you won't miss a single episode of the Bourbon Road.

We love to hear from our listeners.

You can always pop on our website, hit that contact us page and send us a message. We'll get back to you. We love to hear recommendations for bottles, recommendations for guests on the episode. Our email address is team at the bourbonroad.com. You send an email to that address. I guarantee you one thing, you'll get a response. We love to hear from our listeners. We love to meet you in person. If we see you at a bar or a restaurant or a distillery, we see you at an event. We see at a liquor store, make sure you step up to us and shake our hand, introduce yourself. Tell us a little bit about your bourbon journey. We love to meet our listeners and hear why they like to listen to the bourbon road. It's been a great time sitting down today with Brian. I see a new vision for the bourbon road, but we hope you tune in every single week and until then we hope to see you down the bourbon road.

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