323. Wild Turkey Musings and RareBird101

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 aged maple syrup. Kevin 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 seldomseenmaple.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 reserved 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.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 urban enthusiasts, and we love them to death. Again, go check out seldomseenmaple.com. Kevin and his staff will take care of you. Hello listeners and welcome back to another episode of the Bourbon Road Podcast. I'm your host, Jim Shannon. In the studio with me today is Brian Hyatt, our co-host. Brian, welcome back for another episode. We've got a great day ahead of us here.

Thanks, Jim. I'm really looking forward to this. I got to tell you, this guest and the book is pretty amazing. So, super excited.

So, in the house today, our guest is a three-timer. He's appeared on the Bourbon Road twice before. He's back now. He's the only guest to have ever experienced a podcast on the Bourbon Road with each of our three co-hosts. So, pretty special. We'd like to welcome David Jennings from Rarebird 101. David, welcome to the Bourbon Road. Hey, thanks guys. I appreciate the invite. Yeah, it's a lot of fun. Now each time we've had you on, it's because we had sort of a, let's say a qualifying event. You know, that first time you had a user meet in Lexington and you were doing some barrel picks. And Randy and I came down and joined you and recorded an episode there amongst all your ardent fans, right? Yeah, that was a hell of a time. I enjoyed it. Yeah, it was really good. The second time we had you on was when you released your first book, American Spirit. That's right. And that was a wild success. And now you've got a new book coming out. Well, thank you. And we're going to have you back again. So. All great times, all great events, and always a good excuse to drink wild turkey whiskey. Amen. As we like to do, we like to get straight to that whiskey and waste a whole lot of time, let everybody know what's in our glass. We kind of talked a little bit before the show and decided to pick one that we all had readily available. And David, what are we drinking in this first glass?

This is probably my whiskey of the year and is, I mean, there's a lot to pick from this year. Okay. Um, but the return of wild Turkey, one Oh one 12 year is a very big deal to me because I think it's, you look back historically on all the expressions that wild Turkey has ever produced. Uh, I mean, it's up there, you know, and going from Beyond Duplication, Cheesy Golf, Split Label, and then the export labels where you had the pseudo split and the label. It just has been quality whiskey every time. And yes, some are better than others. Some people have their favorite CGF batch or whatever. And I get it. But every 12-year turkey, every 12-year 101 has been excellent. So there was a really high bar for this to come back to and line up with the past, which it did. Not so much to my surprise, but to my delight. To your delight. I didn't know what I was going to get into here. I knew it wasn't going to taste like dusty turkey. I mean, we all should have accepted that by now. Modern whiskey doesn't taste like dusty whiskey of any brand. Um, so I knew that going into it, but it was, you know, I was a little bit nervous on how good it might be. And when I finally tasted it, it was an instant win for me. I was like, this is, you know, it couldn't have been any better. Um, it has a profile that has a lot of the best way to put it is it has a lot of commonality with wild Turkey 101. in that it has the same bones. It has the caramel, the vanilla, the oak, and the spice and hints of citrus. But it's so much more mature, so much more complex and developed. It's a huge upgrade. So you're not going to taste the 101 profile, but it does taste like wild turkey. It's undeniable. Um, but everything is just more complex. So like the vanilla is more like a vanilla bean and the caramel is more like a caramel chew. And the oak is more like a, you know, a robust, you know, aged oak, well-aged oak and the, and then it also has like some leather and some additional cherry and some notes that you don't find necessarily in regular old 101. Um, but. This bottle sells for like 60, 65 bucks in Japan, and a little bit higher in Korea and Australia, depending on the day and where you get it from. And it's 700 milliliters, so it's 50 milliliters shy of a domestic 101 bottling. But comparing it to Russell's 13, Master's Keep, I just think this one is, Not that it's better, but to me, it deserves more accolades, because it had an uphill battle here, because it hasn't been out for 10 years. And for it to come back and to be such an impressive pour, I think it deserves a lot of praise. So there you go. For me, Whiskey of the Year is probably going to be 10112. Wow.

That's a surprise. I didn't expect that. Uh, and the reason I didn't expect that is because Brian and I haven't tasted it yet, though. This is a fresh crack for us. Yeah. We just got the bottle. We just got the bottle three or four days ago. No, about a week ago, I guess. And so we're pretty excited to drink what you might call. Yeah. The whiskey of the year.

So I hope you're not disappointed because I knew I really set it up for you there.

I mean, I got, I got goosebumps right now because I've got a pretty good pour here.

It's good. It's good stuff. Like I will, I will say that to those listening who haven't tried it, if you did try the masters, keep bottled and bond. Imagine that, but sweeter. So it's like, you know, it's not quite as much leather and oak. It's there. It's just dialed back a little bit. So it fits nice and snug between the 101 that you're used to and the Masters Keep bottle and bond. It's like right in the middle there. And it's just a, you know, maybe leaning a little bit more towards the bottle and bond, but just a lovely, lovely complex profile. All right. Well, let's, let's go ahead and taste it. Yeah. I mean, there, there's, there is nothing to criticize about that whiskey right there.

It's really got a nice floral nose.

Yeah. It, it's, it's impressive from nose to finish. Um, and, and it's, it's crazy that this is an expression that can be found overseas, fairly cheap. Um, I mean, cheap compared to a lot of other things.

Oh, gee, that's really good. Yeah. I mean, I got a little bit of cherry on the nose before I took my first sip, but that baking spice is really well-rounded in there, I think. Yeah.

It's, it's everything that anyone loves about 101 just with a huge upgrade.

Yeah, I'd have to say I agree. Now, 101 is kind of in my kitchen pantry all the time. That's my, you know, I've got a bar downstairs, but I also keep a few bottles in my pantry because they need to be at hand. And Wild Turkey 101 is always there. Usually it's the only bottle in there, but sometimes it's, I've got another one there. Sometimes another bottle in Bond and like a JTS Brown or something, something easy and not too expensive. I just, I really love the brown sugar on the palette on this.

It's, it's, it's, I mean that the whole, I mean, obviously the age is the big deal here, right? So you've got 12 years and, and because it's 12 years, that doesn't mean that it's only 12 years. It could be 14 year, 15 year whiskey in here. You don't know. Um, it, but it really gives it that depth that you don't get in 101. Like 101 is don't get me wrong. Domestic 101 is fantastic. It's the best workhorse whiskey out there. It holds up in blinds. You can use it for cocktails, cooking, mixing drinks, neat, whatever you want to do. It checks all those boxes. But as far as complexity goes, it really hovers around that traditional bourbon profile with your vanilla, your caramel, your baking spice, some oak, and maybe some citrus hints of fruity notes there. It doesn't have a lot of the the layers that you get in this 10112. So you can really peel this like an onion. I mean, it's just molasses. The clove and the leather notes like this has, when did those start to really show up? You know, the only way to really judge that would be to get some single barrels and like Russell single barrels and taste them as they progress. And a good way to do that is with Camp Nelson picks because you can find them in 2018 that are eight years. 2019 for 9, 2020 for 10, et cetera, et cetera. So you can take all those private selections of different ages, and as long as they're the same rick house and floors like Camp Nelson A or F, and you line up the different years and the floors and give yourself kind of like a walk through time, you'll start seeing where the oak becomes a larger role in the profile and gives you those leather notes and the medicinal cherry notes. It's a fun thing to do and I've done it before just having a bunch of them around. I haven't sat down and said, okay, I'm going to map out, you know, Camp Nelson F. But it's funny because with single barrels, they're not exactly the best way to do it because, you know, one barrel can have qualities that maybe a barrel next to it didn't have. Sure. And I have tasted some, some CNFs that tasted almost over-oaked at 10 years. And then I've tasted CNFs that are 12 plus years and it's just perfect. So it's like, you really don't know. Um, but, uh, I think that traditionally, if you go back and you sip 10112 year, it doesn't really matter which label whatever the label is. The oak has always been the backbone of the expression. You know, you've had this sweet oak quality that brings with it notes like medicinal cherry and antique leather and tobacco and things like that. So, I was glad when I first tasted this that it did that. Does it taste like 10112 from 2012 or 2001 or 1991? No, it doesn't taste like those. But, you know, you can taste a similar volume of oak influence and that it's mature You know, correctly, like it wasn't just, well, let's just batch a bunch of 12 year whiskey or whatever. And, you know, we'll just throw it out there. Um, it, it, it was done right.

Yeah. Well, I know the finishes, the finish seems to be like go on forever on this. It's got kind of a, maybe a dry cherry and a anise kind of anise on the finish a little bit.

Like a licorice. Yeah.

Uh, yeah. Licorice or. Um, but it, but it's never bitter.

No, it's definitely not bitter.

It's not really that drying either on the back end. You don't get that kind of oaky dry dryness that you get from some, from some older expressions. I think it is a well-balanced whiskey. It's something that I enjoy drinking. I can't really break it down. Beyond that, I just need to spend more time with it, but I'm pretty impressed by it and I'm glad I got the bottle. I hope I can get another one because this is one of those... I was thinking, you know, I got my decades bottle a while back and I've managed to revisit it on rare enough occasions where I still have half the bottle. So, it's nice when you don't... When you have something in your library, you can go back and try again. There's always that sinking feeling when something's gone forever and you can't taste it anymore.

Right. And what's interesting about Decades is that's kind of, it's funny because, you know, we have Russell's Reserve Single Rick House, right? So Single Rick House is like the big release this year is $250, giving you that DNA snapshot of what a single aging location at Wild Turkey produces, which I think is a really cool idea. And I'm glad they did that. But in a way, Decades, is not necessarily single Rick house, but it's almost single Rick house. It was McBrayer. So the barrels aged at McBrayer, which I think there's three standing and two that they're really using. So, you know, it's like double Rick house. Yeah. But, you know, it gives you an interesting profile because of that. So, you taste decades and, you know, obviously it tastes like wild turkey, but it has its own unique characteristics that make it taste different from this 10112, you know. That's not just age. It's a lot to do with where it was, you know, aged at.

Well, Dave, you know, there's probably a lot of people listening to this episode right now who are pretty familiar with you, your blog, your books, your appearances on a number of podcasts. But there's also going to be a few people who are saying, who's David Jennings? You know, who's Rare Bird 101? I mean, I hear him talking about Wild Turkey here, but where did this guy come from? So my question to you is, you know, what's that 10,000 foot view, who is David Jennings? And where did it all start?

Well, I mean, in a nutshell, today, you know, I consider myself an author, you know, a writer, a whiskey enthusiast, a wild turkey super fan. That's who I am. I don't consider myself an expert. You know, I'm not formally educated in whiskey. I came into this hobby like most people do, which is just going online and reading about various expressions or having some friends share pores with you. And it kind of stirs up interest and you have to kind of satisfy that interest. So you go to the liquor store and you try different things and you make wise purchases and you make unwise purchases. You know, that's kind of how it all began for me was just, you know, having some whiskey with my brother-in-law. And after years of drinking whiskey in a mixed drink, I tried it on the rocks and loved it. Did not miss having Coke in it or ginger ale and decided I was going to go find the best whiskey. and went on this search, this voyage that we all take to try to find the best whiskey in the world. Of course, that doesn't really exist because everyone's got their own personal preferences. So there is no best whiskey in the world. The best whiskey in the world is whatever makes you happy at the time. It's relative. It's not a finite thing. After some time exploring various whiskeys, I found Reddit's rburban forum because I'd kind of started leaning towards bourbon as what I considered kind of my favorite of the whiskeys I tried out of Scotch, Irish, Canadian, whatever, and started writing reviews for Reddit. And had a different handle at the time, but I mean, I was reviewing anything I could find and found myself really enjoying wild turkey because it was a surprise because I remembered wild turkey. I went to college in the mid nineties. And at that time, wild turkey was, that was what you did, you know, before you went out for the night, you know, you had wild turkey one-on-one shots, you know, um, And it wasn't, in my mind, a whiskey that one might enjoy, you know, in a formal sense. And I tried it because I picked up like a little bottle at checkout with the intention of reviewing it and probably destroying it, you know, giving it a negative review because it was going to be rot gut or something. And turns out I was mistaken, very much so. And I enjoyed it more than a lot of the other whiskeys I paid a lot for. Sure. And I was like, wow, I've got to get more of this. And I started talking about it and people were chiming in and one kind person, internet stranger had asked me if I had tried dusty Turkey. And of course I said, no, not at least not in the sense you know, that he meant, cause I mean, yeah, I had it in college, but, uh, he sent me some samples. It was a 1981, one-on-one eight year, which sounds like you've got one of those, Jim. Yeah. And, uh, you lucky bastard. And, um, I've got, uh, and then he sent me a, uh, a 92 cheesy golf hole one-on-one 12 year. And both of those just sent me down a path of. of just wanting to find that profile again. And of course I tried and of course you're not going to find that dusty profile on the shelf. I didn't know that at the time, but it doesn't matter because what I found were profiles that I enjoyed. Um, so, you know, got into Russell's, got into Russell's picks and, and, uh, the rise, uh, you know, from single barrel Ryan one-on-one Ryan. I mean, I just went through the whole catalog and started writing a lot of wild Turkey reviews. And next thing you know, that's like all I was reviewing on Reddit was wild Turkey. And, um, I thought, well, you know, I probably ought to like. archive these somewhere because it's like I've got this collection, you know, of wild turkey. And I probably had about 24, 25 reviews and I started a blog on WordPress and uploaded all those Reddit reviews and added some pictures for the ones I didn't have pictures for. And it just kind of started getting attention. I guess people were searching for wild turkey reviews and it grew faster than I ever imagined. Like it wasn't my intention to have like, I wasn't trying to be breaking bourbon or something, you know, it was just, I was just putting them out there and, and it got some attention and then I decided, well, maybe I'll start kind of doing some things on social media. So I started an Instagram and then eventually started Twitter and you know, a number of people following grew and, you know, built this network of turkey fans and we started trading samples and trying things I'd never tried before. And, you know, people would see I had holes in my reviews like, well, you must not have ever reviewed this one. Do you want to review it? And they would send me samples of things I probably would never get my hands on. and started a Patreon and that has grown over time. And here I am now, you know, I've got two books under me and a lot ahead that I'm working on and never imagined that, you know, this is what I'd be doing full time. But it is. And I owe a lot of thanks to the people that have supported me through the years for making that possible. Like this podcast. Thank you.

Yeah.

Yeah. So that's kind of the overview.

Oh, David, I've got kind of a quick question for you. And then I know Brian's got a couple of things, but my quick question has to do with your first few Reddit posts. When you first started posting your thoughts on tastings on Reddit, how was that for you? Was that like a liberating experience? Was that intensive?

No, I mean, okay. So the very first thing I reviewed, if I recall correctly, was smooth Ambler old scout tenure. This is back when you could find the good stuff, you know, nothing against smooth Ambler now, but you have to admit the stuff that they were cranking out from the beginning. That was, you know, from MGP was amazing. So, um, it was a smooth Ambler old scout tenure. And I remember. doing the tasting notes and feeling like I was a dumb ass because I was reading like whiskey advocate and just various whiskey books and all these folks had these really fancy tasting notes and I couldn't relate to any of that. Like I didn't know what, you know, this certain flower from the Amazon jungle smells like or whatever. None of that stuff, you know, like, you know, a certain brand of peppermint from like France, you know, whatever, I don't, I don't get those things. Like, you know, to me, it's, it's very simple stuff, things I can relate to, like things that I've consumed and smelled my entire life, you know, so vanilla, I can relate to cornbread and maple syrup and these types of notes or things. And sometimes I get wacky notes like, um, I don't know, like a certain type of plastic or whatever. You can only put what you can relate to. So anyway, I felt inadequate. I felt like my tasting notes were really poor man tasting notes.

Is it a little bit of imposter syndrome maybe?

Yeah. I felt like I didn't belong in that circle. I'm an intruder. and but i put it out there and with each review i felt more and more confident that how i was describing the whiskey was right or at least right for me so you know i encourage anyone out there that's interested in Reviewing a whiskey or providing tasting notes. Don't be afraid to just say exactly what you feel and don't feel like you have to name 10 notes either. If all you get on the nose is vanilla and that's it, then just say I get a big smell of vanilla. Let that be your note. There's nothing wrong with that. It's real. And really what matters most is explaining to the reader how you feel about it because you can list a thousand notes and at some point in time it's just a sea of adjectives and verbs, you know, it's like there's, there's nothing really like, uh, or adjectives and nouns, I should say, maybe the occasional verb, but like, you know, it's, you get lost in it, you know, does anyone really take tasting notes that seriously either? Like it gives you a snapshot of what you might taste, but you know, it's not like, you know, you're like, this is the Bible truth of this whiskey. Like, you know, I never read a review and, and think, these are the exact notes I'm going to get. It's always kind of like, okay, I get where you're going with this. I see a lot of citrus stuff on here, so it must have a really citrusy vibe. How do you feel about it? And that matters just as much, if not more, than your tasting notes. So if you're just starting out doing whiskey reviews, don't get too caught up in the notes thing. Don't try to like you know, describe things in ways that are foreign to you. Just describe it as best you can. Um, and then tell people how you feel about it. Cause that's where they're really gonna, you know, kind of lock in with you or disagree with you. And, uh, that's another thing too, is, is, uh, It's okay for people to disagree with you. Don't feel like you have to defend your review. If you really, really like a whiskey and other people hate it, that's cool. That's fine. And the inverse is true. So if you really hated a whiskey and everybody else loves it, I mean, if you're being honest, you know, that's that's the truth. You know, you're not wrong. You know, so anyway, just just be tough and, you know, stand by your opinion.

Yeah, David, I think that a lot of people can really get on board with that. And it probably makes people feel a lot more confident when they do speak up. Because a lot of times you get in certain settings and you want to make sure that you're not missing the mark. And I've been in a lot of different settings and had the fortune of tasting some very old Dusty's. and you hear all these different notes and everything. And sometimes, like you said, you pick up something very simple and either you like it or you don't like it. And it can be a very uncomfortable situation for some folks. And as they continue to taste and get more comfortable with it, you tend to relax a little bit and some other things start popping out. And you can speak a little bit more to those things. So I think our listeners probably love hearing that. And it just gives them the ability to know that they can jump in and do different things with tasting.

Not be worried about missing the mark. Right, right. And I mean, the more you do it, the more confident you'll get. And a good way to do that, too, is to explore really wildly different things. Go from a peated scotch to a super sweet bourbon. And they're totally different. And you're going to get totally different notes or like something that's finished, you know, like something that's finished in, I don't know, like a VDN or Sherry or rum or something where you're going to get these extremely different notes from an expression or a style, a spirit style that you're used to. Or you could even like just really get outside of it and do something that's not even whiskey like you could you know try whiskey or I'm sorry tequila or You know cognac or whatever and like these things help your palate kind of like Figure out, you know how notes come across differently so like A grape note that you might get in a bourbon is not going to be necessarily the same grape note that you might get in a cognac. Or the sugar cane that you get in a rum, like a heavy syrupy sugar. uh, is not the same syrupy sugar that you might get in a bourbon that where you might describe it as syrupy sugar, but it's not exactly the same, but just, just having your palate explore different spirits and different, uh, styles of whiskey, um, different ages of whiskey, different finishes, all that kind of stuff will help you express, um, those tasting notes, uh, the more you do it. So just, just an idea. That's how it's helped me.

I definitely agree with that. I think one of the first ones that I kind of branched out on was Ron's Acappa XO rum. And that one kind of, you know, it. It was kind of a curve ball for me. Somebody threw it in and a blind tasting and you know, we had all, everything lined up was bourbon except for that. And you know, it really does take you down a different road and you do start to pick out a different flavor profiles when you do that.

So. Yeah. Yeah. And I, I used to not like rum at all. Like I was just a, Not a rum fan and it wasn't that long ago when I started kind of veering that direction and going hmm you know I do find some redeemable qualities in this and turns out what it was is. you know, not all rums are created equal, just like all whiskeys aren't created equal, but even more so with rum because of dosing and these types of things where you have to kind of get a little bit more nerdy and figure out, well, these are the ones that are going to be more what you're probably going to appreciate over the others. So once I started, I think it was a real McCoy 12-year That was like the first one I tasted those. Oh, this kind of has some dusty bourbon qualities to it. And I was getting some of that same kind of like seller oak, fermented fruit, that proverbial dusty funk. And so that turned me on that I still haven't. I've gotten into tequila. I've tasted tequila. I've tried. I should probably keep trying. But so far to date, I'm kind of railing Givens on the tequila. So not really my thing yet, but maybe one day.

I think Brian and I both love to drink a little tequila. I always say that gin is my other bourbon. I love gin. And I don't know why. I think it's because of the variety of florals that can be introduced to it. Um, yeah, I mean, everybody has their other bourbon, I guess. And maybe it sounds like your other bourbon might be, uh, might be rum or maybe even a Scotch whiskey, huh?

No, I think if, if, if like bourbon just disappeared suddenly, well, let's just say whiskey disappeared because I would just get a rife bourbon disappear. But like, so let's say, you know, it just, it disappeared. I would, I would definitely move probably to Armagnac next or French brandy, Cognac, Armagnac, even Calvados would probably be the second thing for me. And then, then third would be like Jamaican rum, like a funky rum. Wow. Cool. Awesome.

Well, I tell you what, I just finished off my pour of this, uh, 2022 export 12 year and man, it's delicious. I am so glad I still have like two thirds of a bottle here after I shared out some samples because I'm going to visit this on occasion. I hope it doesn't disappear too quick. Now let's talk a little bit about, you know, acquiring a bottle of this, right? It's not easy to get. No, you say it's $65 or so. Right. But by the time you fly there or you have a friend ship it to you, taking those chances to get it overseas, it gets quite a bit more expensive. So what would you say is a reasonable price for somebody to pay to get there?

Oh, OK. I mean, I would say, OK, so you're getting 700 milliliters as opposed to 750 domestic bottling. And master's keeps are going for 200 bucks now, basically. I think that if you're under 200, it's probably worth buying. I would say I would feel comfortable more in the 120 to 150 range would be something that like I would not have a problem coming off that to buy a bottle at all. Once you start getting over 150, it gets to be, okay, how desperate am I to have this? Um, but certainly crossing that $200 mark. And I think that's a little bit too much in my opinion. So.

Well, David, you validated my purchase because I spent, I spent $149. So I feel like I just, I just got inside the, you know, the reasonable range there. So you must've got, did you pick it up at Neat? I did. Yes. Okay.

Yeah. I think that I thought that was a very fair price. Um, so yeah, you did good. Um, and it's worth it in my opinion. I mean, the profile, uh, speaks to that. If it didn't, I would not recommend people picking it up, but it does.

All right, well, it's been a great first half, David. You've really given us kind of this view into your sort of where you come from. And in the second half, we'd like to obviously pour some more whiskey, but talk a little bit more about, you know, kind of what you've got going on now and what's happening in your world and what we can plan on for the future. So let's take a short break and we come back, folks, more of David Jennings and Rare Bird 101. Kevin and his staff here are doing a fantastic job. Like we said at the beginning of the show, 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. 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 seldom seen maple.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 Bard Distillery, Pine Bluffs Distilling, Mystic Farm and Distillery, Jay Riger, 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 dot com. Get yourself. All right, listeners, we are back. This is a fantastic episode. We got David Jennings in the house from Rare Bird 101. In the first half, we got a chance to sip on a little bit of wild turkey. 101, 12 year, the export for 2022. David called that out as possibly his, his pour of the year, right? Yeah. Whiskey of the year, possibly. Wow. Wow. It means it's, it's high on the list to become that, right?

Yeah, it's, it's, it's up there with like, uh, the new masters keep. Yeah.

Awesome. Well, in the second half, it's going to be tough to beat, but I think we all have a different pour to drink from. And, uh, I guess we'll just each take turns and talk about what we're drinking.

I'll start with you, David. Okay. So I'm sipping on a barrel that I helped pick at wild Turkey. It's a Russell's reserve selection. It's called a Lawrence Berg and Loretto. And this was selected with, uh, uh, some of my Patreons supporters, as well as, uh, Denny Potter, Jane Bowie, um, Trevor Bowles from Makers Mark, or I guess Denny and Jane formerly of Makers Mark, um, Ryan Alves of Justin's House of Bourbon and Pablo Moy. from Rare Character, along with Bruce Russell. And it's a 10-year Rick House E fourth floor barrel, and just has this really complex, very unique profile in comparison to like your kind of core turkey, I guess you would say. All those Rick House E barrels that came out in 20 were very different. They had like really kind of strange notes like tropical fruits and fruit loops and juicy fruit gum and all kinds of oddities. And this is that same whiskey but with another two and a half years to it or two to two and a half years added to it. and it's really it rounded off some of those kind of brighter sharper edges of like the tropical fruit which kind of brings it down more into like an orchard fruit or like a blood orange and these types of things and then Um, I even get some chocolate on this. Uh, I got a lot of chocolate in the Rick house whenever we picked it as the Jane, but with the water added, it's kind of changed a little bit. Cause you know, these are bottled at one 10. So it's not full barrel proof. Um, but it's still there. It's a milk, like a milk chocolate note. Um, just like a, like if it's imagined, like if you open, you know, you, you get this Valentine. candy boxes and the heart box, whatever. And it's the variety pack, you know, where you have like the everything like the dark chocolate, the milk chocolate, the fruity stuff, the cream stuff, the nutty stuff, all of it in there. Right. Yeah. But you know what it smells like when you first break the cellophane wrap and you open that box and you get that smell. That's what this nose is like. It's like chocolate, fruity, nutty, just some of everything creamy all in that. that nose. And, uh, just, it was, it was my favorite that day outside of a almost 13 year barrel that Justin's ended up getting because as bad as I wanted it, it just didn't have a yield to it because Bruce could barely thief the whiskey. It was like, there was a barrel. I was, I was like, well, I didn't want to waste you know, a barrel allocation on something that, you know, 30 patrons might get. Sure. Sure. I passed on it, but you know, this was my favorite of that day. Um, and, uh, as well as Jane, it was her favorite. And, um, you know, I just, it's, it's a special whiskey to me because there's a lot of memories associated with it. And, uh, just had a hell of a trip that this, this was selected in, um, March of last or this March of this year.

And, um, must've been kind of a unique situation to have Denny and Jane there for makers.

It really, it was neat. It was, it's hard to explain. I mean, they're so normal, but I mean, like normal, it's kind of a bad word, but those two are off the hook. When I say normal, I mean, like they're just average, like. Folks like they're not, they don't come across like snooty or, you know, I'm a master, you know, distiller, I'm a master taster or whatever. There's none of that there at all. They're just like, they're just as excited about doing the Turkey barrel pick as me and stuff. You know, it's like, we're all just like shooting the shit and having a great time. And, um, It was a wonderful day. And what made it even cooler was like, so like the distillery was closed. So everything was locked up. Jimmy had to come let us in. So Jimmy had to go like to the security and like, and let us in. And he drives down to the Rick houses and he meets us down there and we chit chat with him for a little while before we, you know, head on in. So it was a really special day. And, you know, it was, I felt like I was, even though I was with some folks I had known for only a short period of time and some folks I had just met that day, um, I felt like I was with old friends. Um, like I felt like I knew Denny and Jane for years, even though I had just met them that day. And it was, it was a hell of a time.

I think they have that effect on people. And the other thing about Denny and Jane is they really feed off each other, right? They really like, they can really get going and they're picking at each other, but at the same time they're having fun.

Right? It happened quick. It was like, it was, it was like, you know, it wasn't one of those ease in things. It was like, they were just full on, uh, it was, everybody was, we were all buddies very quickly. It was, it was a hell of a time. Like I said, it was, I enjoyed it. I wish I could go back and relive it.

Well, Brian, what do you got in your glass? I have the Kentucky Spirit from 2019, warehouse K, Rick number six. And so this is one that obviously I'd have, you know, it's a great bottle, but I've had it sitting on the shelf for quite a while. Never cracked it until the day after Thanksgiving this year. So decided to jump into it and Jim was over at my house and we were able to taste that together. So very cool bottle. I really enjoyed it. It's going a little bit faster than I would like it to go at this point, but that's for a very good reason. A little bit that I've been able to pick out from this bottle is just that it obviously has its oak flavors and everything. The orange pill is a little bit something that jumps out to me that I don't always pick up in other bottles, but in this one, I definitely do. I feel like it's a, it's a great drink. Uh, I really enjoy it. And compared to the other Kentucky spirits I've had, I actually liked this one a little bit more than the others. Awesome.

You know, uh, something about Rudecouse K. It's what I call like the wild card Rick house so you can get notes that you're talking about like citrus notes You can get like wild berry notes. I've had K barrels that come across very like Raspberry cranberry type and then I've had some that are just super dark and rich and you know toasted brown sugar and molasses it's quite the interesting Aging location because you never really know what you're gonna get and another throwback to, you know, Jim, you had mentioned the other episodes I've been on. I don't know if you remember this or not, but you know, Randy and you and I were sipping a whiskey bear Russell's reserve from Rickhouse K. Yes. Back in that first episode. So, um, that's kind of a cool little tie in there. Absolutely. That was a good pick too. Damn. That was a good pick.

Yeah. Yeah, I've had some pretty phenomenal picks from there that just, just blow my mind. I've never had anything that was subpar ever. That was a killer.

When I had to go, like after we did that episode, I had to get one. It was, it was great. And like, you know, cause there were some heavy pours that day. I don't know if you remember, I mean, we had some killer stuff. We had like split label, 12 year CGF. We had dusty one on one eight. We had single cast nation stuff. Like we had a lot of good stuff that day and some duplication you had there.

I mean, there were some things that were just, just phenomenal things that I'd never had an opportunity. to try before and, and your, uh, your crew there, let's just call them your crew. They were very, uh, generous in sharing what they had brought a lot. You'd brought a lot too.

So everybody pitched in and, uh, I like, you know, some of the stuff that w that people were bringing, like, I remember Scott early brought like Sherry's signature. And I think he brought the one-on-one 17 year, like. you know, from 2001, just stuff that like nowadays would fetch a pretty hefty price tag. And people were just sharing it among each other. It was a great night. We had another meetup this year and it was even more folks and the same kind of thing, just people being very generous with their whiskey. And that's the best part about this hobby is how it's more about you know, taking a special whiskey and giving it to other people so that they can experience what you've experienced and like seeing that smile on their face or getting that feedback from them and not worrying about, well, you know, gosh, they're probably sipping about 50 bucks right now. Like that doesn't even cross your mind because you're more interested in, you know, having that person feel that same, you know, sense of satisfaction that you did when you've tasted it. So that's the best thing about the hobby is the friendship, the fellowship, people being generous and sharing and it's awesome. I mean, the flipping stuff, the money stuff, whatever, you know, this is where it's at.

I mean, if you're buying bottles and they end up on your shelf, gathering dust and you don't really ever want to open them because you're scared to crack the seal on it. There's not a lot of fun in that. Maybe the thrill of the hunt to get it, but then it's over. And then if you're sipping on those bottles by yourself, and enjoying them. You get that pleasure of the taste, but you don't get the pleasure of sharing that with others. I mean, the ultimate good feelings, the ultimate gratification comes when you pour somebody else something from a bottle you have that they're likely not to get, and they get to experience that. I mean, that's it. That's where it happens. That's where the magic happens for me.

It really does. That's true. And while I get that, I don't feel like everyone should have to to like open every bottle that they have. Like I know there's people out there that like peer pressure and they're like, well, you need to open it. And it's like, well, yeah, I mean, you can't open every single bottle that you have. Um, especially when you get to like a level of having 150 plus bottles, you know, you don't want to open every one of them because you know, you want them to, you can only drink so much. I mean, you can only get one liver, you know? So. And I have no problem with people saving bottles for special occasions or meetups or whatever. Sealed bottles aren't bad things, but you know, if you're not sharing your whiskey, whatever whiskey you have that you're, you know, currently enjoying, then you're missing out. Um, cause there's a lot, there's a lot more fun stuff that happens in fellowship than you'll ever have, like you said, by yourself. Um, so, and some of the best pours I've had by myself are like everyday stuff, you know, it's like, you know, like, damn, this one at once kicking ass tonight, you know? And like, sometimes that is like the best feeling in the world, isn't it? Like, I tell you, so right now for those listening, if you want to go into a store and have like this feeling of like, you know, like being on top of the world, go into the liquor store and look around. Of course, if they have something cool, that you want to try or something allocated that you looked out on or whatever, by all means, get it if you're paying a good price, whatever. But nine times out of 10, when you go in, it's the same old stuff you see every time, right? Well, if you want to go in and feel like a winner, go in, buy a handle of Wild Turkey 101 and tell me that doesn't feel good walking out with that. Like there's just something about walking out of a liquor store with a handle of Wild Turkey 101 that just, I mean, That's just when that's just a win. I mean, you know, so anyway, just, just a suggestion for those out there.

All right. So what I have in my glass is the, uh, master's keep bottle and bond 17 year. And, uh, this is something that I'm getting, I've got maybe an ounce left. So I put a pretty. healthy pour in this glass, and then I've got maybe an ounce remaining and then I'll be done with it, but that's okay. I may or may not find another bottle of it. Sometimes you find this stuff out there, like I was saying earlier. You can get lucky. Yeah, you can get lucky. For me on this one, it's kind of a grilled cherry. The citrus is a little light on it for me, but it is smoky. It's got that smoky nose to it. Yep. A lot of char. For the palette, I get, I get whorehound candy. And I know listeners, I say whorehound candy a lot, but anytime I get that root beer sassafras kind of note, I like to say whorehound because whorehound is just one of my favorites.

You know, I would say- You can find it at Cracker Barrel.

You can't find it at Cracker Barrel. That's true. Um, I get, I get a little bit of orange on it and orange peel, if you want to call it that, but a little bit more on the palate than I got on the nose from the citrus on the nose. And then. I get this. So, you know, when you eat a creme brulee, you got that crust on top. Yep. Okay. Just the crust. Not, not the creamy custard underneath, but just the crust on top. Yeah. I think the finish is probably just medium on this, but it's medium to long maybe. Yeah.

I really love it. Yeah, it's a good whiskey. Is one of the best things that Wild Turkey's ever bottled, ever. And that's surely one of the best things that Eddie has ever been involved in. Like if you want to talk about crowning achievements of Eddie Russell, that bottle and Bond Masters keep is way up there. Like probably right under 1998, like Russell's 1998. Yep. As far as, you know, bearing Eddie's name, really knocked it out of the park with that one. Now, granted, you have to like a mature whiskey. So if you don't like mature whiskey, it's probably not going to be your jam because there is a lot of oak to it. There is. But it's done right. And, you know, I really should stress that to folks out there is that like, it's okay to not like mature whiskey. Like I think some people You know, they've kind of have this in their mind that the older the whiskey, the better. And that is not necessarily true. Jimmy would tell you that that's not true, you know. But if you do like an older whiskey, if you like that, heavy, like you're talking about sassafras, and antique leather, and charred oak. If those notes speak to you, then mature whiskey is where it's at. The trick is having a mature whiskey that retains a sweetness, that isn't bitter, that isn't drying, that doesn't leave you needing a sip of water after you've tasted it. Sure, it doesn't taste like pencil shavings or anything like that. So, and that's hard to do with bourbon. You know, it's not like scotch where you have the environment where the stuff can sit in and they can use, you know, barrels that have, you know, X barrels, you know, X bourbon, X sherry, whatever. It's tricky. You know, Kentucky has a climate where it gets very hot in the summer and very cold in the winter. And, you know, it really burns through that wood. And, uh, so bourbon doesn't do so well as it gets in the teens and you have to really keep an eye on it and, um, you know, move them to lower floors and baby them, baby those barrels. It's not, uh, you know, either you get lucky or, you know, you're mindful, but it's one of the two.

Yeah. I think if you can get your hands on a bottle of this, you should definitely grab it. If you can get it at retail or, or close to retail. I mean, the cherry survives all the way to the finish and, uh, and you get a little bit of burnt marshmallow and I just, I just like it. And you're right. It's not overly drying at the end. It's not like, you know, that's, that's a song that plays over and over again with older whiskeys as they get that dry, that dry finish on them. And this is just wonderful. It's really good. And I'm sad to see, well, I'm sad to see that last ounce sitting there, but I'm going to enjoy that last ounce for sure.

Save it for something special. I will.

All right, David. Well, you know, in the second half, we kind of like to talk a little bit more about what our guest has going on today and what's exciting in their lives and their brand and the work that they do. And we all know that you have a new book coming out that has had an initial release, but kind of a limited release, and it's on pre-order now. But can you tell us a little bit about your new project?

Yeah. Okay. So, uh, about two years ago, I started thinking about what am I going to do for the fifth anniversary of my blog? Uh, because I started the blog in 2016 and you know, a lot of people, they'll do things like a single barrel bottling or, um, you know, maybe like a party or something, you know, and I was trying to figure out what am I going to do? And I got to looking at, know, my work over the years. And I had at that time, when I was looking at my blog, I had over 300,000 words worth of material there. And I thought, well, surely, you know, there is 50,000 words in here that are worthy of kind of memorializing in print. And I took the idea in a lot of ways from Chuck Caldrey because Chuck has some books that are compilations of blog posts or compilations from, you know, the Bourbon Country Reader or whatever. And so I felt like I could do this, but if I'm going to do it, I didn't want to just regurgitate stuff that anyone could just find online. I wanted to kind of make it special. So I thought, okay, well, I'll, I'll talk to Vic about doing some new photography and I'll go through each post and not only will I edit it, um, I'll kind of add my director's cut to it. So we're like, I'm, I'm putting my notes in the story behind the posts, you know, or, uh, maybe a story about what happened after I posted it or why I even wrote it in the first place. So that's what became Wild Tricky Musings. And I put a Kickstarter out there last year and said, hey, I want to do this book for, you know, the fifth anniversary of my blog. And the response was overwhelming. I mean, I had a greater fundraiser than I did for my first book, American Spirit. And so I knew when that happened, I really had to dial up the quality. I'm like, okay, well, this is, A lot more people interested in this than I thought there would be. So now I've really got to make sure that it's special. So I talked to Ricky who designed the first book and even though he did not work for the publisher, my publisher anymore, I wanted to use them. And I told Ricky that I have this vision, my son, there's this pirate book that I used to read to him as a kid and it had this look to it. And I want to make this whiskey book look like that pirate book without being a pirate book. And he did a credible job designing a book that had that feel. It was like a journal where it was like very informal without being overdone. And I talked to Vic when we got to the point about photography and I said, look, love what you do with American spirit. I want you to do a different angle with this one. I want you to like, think about things a little bit less formal, less catalog shots and more artistic shots, more shots where other people can kind of relate to them, like maybe at home or in a hotel room or something like that. Then at the same time, I want them to be high quality, which of course Vic is only going to provide something like that. You know, I had just a good team and I had a lot of folks help me with editing. Taylor Cope, who writes and edits Malt Review, he kind of went through the first round of editing and then I had a team of several editors at my publisher go through it. What ended up becoming, you know, Wild Trick and Musings is really a celebration of everything I've done the last five years, and it turned out better than I could have ever imagined it. Artistically, stylistically, it just, thanks to some really talented individuals, just turned out better than I envisioned it. This is not the book that you have, if you have musings, or if you're thinking about getting it, it is so much better than I ever imagined. I mean, I remember being on a barrel pick in Kentucky and I was getting on a plane to come home and Ricky sent me a text with some screenshots of the layout and Vick's pictures. It was the first time I saw what the book was gonna look like. and I'm on the plane and I get this text and I open it up and I mean like, I almost kind of cried a little bit. Like I was just like, damn, this is like really looking good. Like this is like, like you have something in your head, but translating that to print is very difficult sometimes. And for someone to be able to do that, you know, and, and do it better than I imagined it. Um, It really just made me happy. And I was just like, OK, this is going to be good. People are going to like this because I worried so much from the first day of doing this. You know, would this I just didn't want it to be like a regurgitation of a blog. Because what's the point in buying a book if I can go out and get the material for free? And it turned out just so wonderful. I'm just very, very, very happy. And it's not just my author's notes in there. I mean, I've got an introduction and an epilogue and a prologue that are completely new material and then Fred's got a forward in there. Fred Minick wrote the forward. And I've included some other little gems in there. The book is somewhat interactive too. So there's places for you to fill in the blanks. You can list your favorite whiskeys or kind of jot in your favorite cocktail or Um, just various places in the book, there's some maps there. Connor query, uh, had done some watercolor paintings for me, um, based on some maps that Bo had actually created. Bo Garrett had created, um, of all the, the, the Rick house campuses. And so she turned those into watercolors and then Ricky was able to kind of transform those into like these maps that kind of work in that pirate book style that it just, it all just worked out. And I'm just sitting here like gushing about my own book. I should be embarrassed to do that, but, um, it just turned out so much better than I thought it would. And to clarify, yes, it's the site says it's on pre-order. The release is technically February, 2023 because of how publishing works, because you have to get these books into certain distributors that get them to certain stores. And so like the mom and pop Amazon type of release is February, 2023, but. I told my publisher, like, this is something I want people to have now, because I've got Kickstarter supporters. I've got Patreon supporters. I've got people that follow me on social media. And to be honest, the fifth year anniversary occurred in 2021. Here we are in 2022. I don't want to be 2023 for the fifth anniversary release. So if you order it through my publisher, which you can get that link through wildturkeybook.com, Uh, but my publishers mascot books, uh, they're also, uh, under an imprint called, uh, amplify publishing. But if you order it through my publisher, the book will mail the next day. So you buy it, you know, uh, today, they'll mail it tomorrow and you'll have it then if you wait and like, you know, you just have to buy it on Amazon where you're going to have to wait till February. Um, but if you want it now and you buy it from a publisher says pre-order, but if you buy it, From them, you'll get it shipped out immediately. Also, ebooks are available through my publisher. If you purchase the ebook for a single $999 purchase, you get all three formats. You get PDF, you get iBooks, which is Apple, and you get the Kindle version, which is Amazon.

Yeah, so David, you know, Brian and I have spent the week reading your book, and he's a speed reader. I'm not such a speed reader. He's gotten through your book, and I'm about 70 pages in. But I just have one comment, and that is that it's amazing with a book of musings. This is a retrospective, right? This is you looking back and saying, These are all the things that have brought me to where I am, and you're sort of bearing your soul in a lot of this, but the flow between one musing to the next is just so seamless. It just sort of... Thank you. Yeah, that's what I noticed early on is that this transition between one story to the next is just so comfortable.

That was the most difficult part. It really was. Writing about the post, doing my author's notes, that was pretty easy because you just tell the truth. This is what I was doing at the time, or this is how I felt at the time, and the words just come. Having to cut posts and add posts, it was so difficult. There were posts I left out that I wanted to be in there, but they just didn't fit the flow. There was a post I have that's called Drink Shaming and Ice Turkey Yeti or something like that. I really like that post because it's I really hate drink shaming. I feel like drink shaming is like the worst part of our hobby and outside of counterfeit. But I didn't include it because it kind of interrupted things. It didn't really like flow with the turkey conversation. And there were some other ones too I had to cut. I debated on cutting the best of posts because I worried that they would be redundant. Like it would be like, okay, we're just going through the list of the best of again. But at the same time, I had people reach out to me and say, when you do your book, please do the best of posts in there. And I got to thinking about it. I'm like, it's a good way to kind of snapshot where Turkey was at the time in a very critical time in its life, because we're coming out of Campari purchasing while Turkey out of some, you know, nothing against Pernod, but some rather stale years there towards the end with Pernod ownership. And You know, I think it was important to kind of show how a lot of these expressions that people knew on a regular basis back then had now become something even greater now. And then the addition of all new lines like Masters Keep and various Russell's expressions that were new, like the rye, single barrel rye. I think that it was important to have those in there, as well as some of these one-off things or annual things like single cast nation. These are important expressions because Turkey doesn't bottle single barrels at barrel proof. So people need to know that these things exist, whether they had a chance to taste them or not. It was very, very, very difficult. picking out which pieces would I use and which would I not. And I went through probably, Jim, I probably went through three or four versions of the book as a manuscript before I finally had one that I could send to Fred that I felt comfortable with Fred reading it and, you know, wanting to do a full word or a, well, I asked him and You know, honestly, how that went down too was, you know, the, the, I'd asked Fred to do the Ford for American Spirit and I just didn't hear back from him. And, you know, Aaron Goldfarb has done a lot of great stuff for me over the years. And, and so I reached out to Aaron and he was like, man, I'd love to. And then after the book came out, Fred was like, Hey, wait a minute. I thought you said I was going to do the forward. And I was like, well, you can do the next one, buddy. But before I sent it to him, I wanted to make sure it was right and something that he would be happy with and proud to do a forward for because I admire Fred's writing tremendously. I've read his bourbon books and I remember When I first got into whiskey, my wife bought Bourbon Curious for me. And I read that in two sittings, like all within a 24 hour period. And I was just like, man, I'd love to do a Bourbon book one day. And here I am, you know, so that was really cool to have, you know, Fred author that forward.

So I agree with everything that Jim said. This book is, you know, it's put together very, very well, very easy read. It has a great flow to it. And, you know, my family grew up in Lawrenceburg, so there's some, you know, pretty cool things that I've been able to talk to different family members about that you talk about in the book, which has been pretty cool for me. A couple of chapters that really stood out to me, the first one is chapter eight, the hacking, hacking wild turkey. Yeah. So I'll be honest, like that chapter just kind of blew my mind. I was reading and I was like, this, like, this is awesome. And to see what your thoughts were behind it, I was already captivated But then it went to a whole other level when I hit chapter eight. So one of the thoughts that I had was, have you done any blends outside of wild turkey with other brands using one of the wild turkey expressions that you had and just testing out some different things there?

I mean, I'm constantly playing around with stuff. What would this taste like blended with that? You know, I even did this line last year and the year before of old fashioned cocktails that were pre-bottled. I even had like a label made, but not for sale. They would just give them to friends. But like, you know, so I would blend, I call them the dirty bird because it's turkey blended with something else. So I'd find like this good blend and then add bitters and simple syrup and And, you know, probably make a couple bottles worth and then put them in like 200 milliliter bottles and put a sticker on them. And I had like an old fashioned thing. I'd give it to people for for gifts. But yeah, I'm constantly like blending whiskies together just to see like what they might taste like. And every once in a while, I'll come up with something that's just really works well. Russell's Ten Year is a very good whiskey to blend with. If you take Russell's Ten Year and you add it to something, more often than not, you're going to end up with something that's interesting at the least, sometimes better than what you started with. For example, I've blended Russell's Ten Year with Knob Creek 12 50-50, and that is a wonderful blend. I've done Russell's tenure with Wilderness Trail, Single Rail Rye. And that's turned out really, really wonderful. I've had a lot of things that didn't turn out so great, but those two right off the top of my head. That chapter was fun because that's kind of playing off Aaron's book, Hacking Whiskey. So I'd mentioned Aaron Goldfarb before. He had written Hacking Whiskey, which he included me in a couple pages of that. It's fun to take something like a turkey expression that you know is a blend of certain ages, like WB Saffol, for example. We knew it was six, eight, 10 and 12 year old bourbon. We didn't know percentages and this type of thing. So it was fun at home. I played with that and I came up with something that was about the same proof and tasted a lot like WB Saffol. and I called it WB Hackle. And so I've done stuff like that. It was fun deconstructing Forgiven, which is in that hacking whiskey chapter, coming up with that bourbon rye blend at home and side by side tasting it to the actual Forgiven and getting as close as possible to at least batch 303. That was a lot of fun. There's a theme in the book because there's more than a post, one post about that. There's other blend, whiskey blend posts, I'm gonna say posts because they were blog posts, but whiskey blend chapters and that book, there's several of them in there. And the point is that you can have fun with whiskey by playing out of bounds, you know, like you don't have to just open the bottle, pour it and sip it and like it or don't like it. That's one way to do it. but you can do other things with it. I mean, and that's really Aaron's book, Hacking Whiskey is that to the 10th level is like fat washing and just doing crazy experiments with it and secondary finishes and home casks and these types of things, syrups and whatnot. So there's a lot of fun to be had with what you've got on hand. You just have to think outside the box.

Yeah, that's pretty amazing, David. I've always enjoyed doing blends of my own. I don't always get it right. In fact, more often than not, I don't get it right. But every now and then, I put together something that's exceptional or fun or certainly something that I enjoy. I've always been a fan of WB Saffol and I, I did try your hacking Saffol thing at one point and I think I got pretty close. I was pretty happy with it. You know, Saffol is a wonderful pour. It is. And, uh, and you know, the 375 kind of catches you a little by surprise cause it's a little more expensive for a half bottle, right? But, um, it was nice to play with that and get close and I was impressed by it. Another thing in the book, I want to talk about your, uh, You know, everything you write is always your truth, right? It's always David Jennings' truth. It's how he feels about a particular subject. But one of the things you did with this book is you did have a fiction article where you kind of talked about the... I dabbled in it, didn't I? You dabbled in it. And I just wonder if you ever had a chance to find out how close you got with that. Maybe you could fill our listeners in a little bit.

You know, I really, I never got the story, which is why I made it up. Cause I'm like, okay. Cause how that went down was, um, I had gotten a, cause this was for, okay. I remember exactly now. So they had that, uh, angels share a charity thing. Um, I may be getting the name wrong, but it was like in 2018, I think. And it was a charity thing that. the master distillers went to each other's distilleries and picked barrels and then they auctioned off the bottles. Or I think you paid like a premium form or something. And so there was that charity bottle and it was like Rick House B or something like that was the actual charity bottle. So when this master distiller selection showed up at the distillery with like, I think it was Rick House D, all this going from memory. Um, I, I was like, Oh, okay. This is a cool barrel. I wonder, wonder why Eddie picked this one. So I sent Eddie a message on Instagram and I was like, Hey, uh, what's the story on this, this barrel? And he's like, Oh, I picked it with, with, uh, Fred and Chris and Jimmy. And I was like, wait a minute. I thought that was the, the B, you know, for the charity things like not, we did that one too. And so I was like, well, okay. So I guess they did a couple of them and then maybe just one went to the charity thing and the other one just went to the distillery or something. So I didn't want to bother Eddie. I'm not going to like blow up his, I'm not that person. Like I rarely ever try to message, you know, Eddie. I mean, I can text him if I need to or email if I need to, but I don't like to be that person. So I just kind of take things like I got an answer. I'm just going to roll with it, especially back then. so i'm like well i wonder what that was like and everything i just got thinking about it and i'm like i'm just gonna make up shit but i'm gonna tell people i'm making up shit and i'm gonna have fun doing it and uh so that's what that post is is just i mean i i state very clearly that it's it's fiction you know um but uh i had a lot of fun writing that Because, you know, it is very much kind of overdone in a way. Like, you know, it's somewhat overdramatized and cartoonish, one might argue. But that was the point. It was to be humorous, you know. It was to kind of, you know, show that turkey's the best. even when other legends are sitting in the room. So I'm glad you mentioned that one because it's complete bullshit. But I had a lot of fun writing it and I don't write narratives very often. I don't write fiction at all. So that was a fun one to do.

I just wonder if you ever got Chris Morris's take on that.

They probably looked at it and was like, who's this guy? But yeah, I did have fun. It doesn't really paint him or Fred in the best light. I mean, it's of course poking fun.

It's poking fun. It's poking fun.

And with all due respect to those master distillers who are great in their own right, But, you know, it's a turkey blog, so you're going to lose.

Well, I mean, it was an enjoyable read for me. I mean, Brian got way further in the book than I did, but I enjoyed a couple of things in particular. One was obviously that fiction section there. That was a lot of fun. Also, when you talked about the air as a wild turkey and sort of breaking down the different You know kind of the errors that the that the brand went through and how things changed over time and you know, I think about my first experience with wild turkey and I was living in Ohio And it was 1981 and I became of age 18 years old in Ohio at that time. 18 years got you into a bar. Now you were only supposed to drink beer at that time at 18. That was the law.

But once you're in the bar, they don't care.

So I'm drinking some, uh, wild turkey. Eight year, one-on-one from 1981. And that's why I mentioned I have a little bit of that because that's kind of my, that was my whiskey, right? That was the one that introduced me to wild Turkey back in 81. I've sort of put my age on the table there, but.

Well, what's cool is that's in my sentimental whiskey chapter, that's listed as one of my sentimental whiskeys is, is that 81 wild turkey 101. If I'm, if I, if I'm going from memory correctly. That's a glut arrow whiskey though, according to your. era chart, right? Definitely. Definitely a glad era whiskey. And, you know, it was, it was a time when the barrels were plentiful and the money was not. Right. Exactly. And you can taste it because some of those glad era eight year bottlings, I mean, there are some that rival some of the 12 year bottlings. I mean, I'm going to be on maybe not of the same year, But like that 81 101, I would put it up against like, you know, a mid nineties, one on one 12 any day. Yeah. Just, just, there's just so much going on there. And, and, and it's like, I've asked Eddie about it before, you know, cause people are always like, well, what makes dusty whiskey or dusty Turkey tastes like dusty Turkey. And they have all kinds of theories about the water and the Cypress tanks and the entry proof and all this and all, all those theories are not wrong. And they all play a role in it for sure. Um, but. As Eddie has stated on more than one occasion, there's just a lot of older whiskey in those bottlings. So, you know, it may say 101, eight years, but it's probably got some like 14 year whiskey in there just because they had to do something with it. You know, it's like, okay, this barrel is going to turn if we don't dump it. So just go ahead and dump it, you know.

And we see that every now and then with just a standard wild turkey 101 expression, right? Some older barrels find their way into a particular batch and the profile moves a little bit and you get to experience that. Doesn't move a lot because they're very careful about that, I think. But you get a little movement.

Yeah, I mean, there is variance in the batches for sure. I mean, maybe not month to month or even within a year, but you know, if you start comparing year to year or maybe every two years or every three years, you will pick up that there's definitely some batch variance there. You know, not as much as you would experience as something like a single barrel where the variance can be extreme even in like the same month, you know. That's the nature of a single barrel. But yes, yeah, for sure.

So there's one thing that I would like you to explain to our listeners because not everybody understands when somebody says, wild turkey funk, right? It's a kind of a special thing. But what is wild turkey funk? What's that funk that makes wild turkey kind of special and how has that changed over the years?

When it comes to wild turkey funk, I think there's multiple definitions because you can have someone that's never tasted it before and they taste wild turkey 101 for the first time and they have a hard time putting words to exactly what they're tasting. They'll say, oh, there's just something different here. It's kind of funky or something. And then you'll have somebody that maybe tastes something dusty from the 70s and like, wow, this has this crazy funk to it. Or maybe they taste something that's like really hyper-aged, like the bottle and bond, okay, that you just tasted. And they say, man, this has got this crazy funk to it. And there really is no, like, if you ask Jimmy about Wild Turkey Funk, he's just going to laugh at you. I mean, there's like, they don't, he doesn't have any clue what you're talking about with the, you know, the Wild Turkey Funk. He's not going to laugh at you, but he might laugh at the thought of, you know, what the, the, what, what is funk, you know? I think that it's multiple things to multiple different people and viewpoints. You know, I can see where someone gets kind of like some barnyard notes, maybe in 101 every once in a while, like, Hey, or something like that. And like, that's wild turkey funk, or maybe they're, you know, nosing like an 81 101, like you have, and they get some like fermented fruit notes. Um, and they think, okay, well, this is really funky, you know? Um, Or maybe they've gotten this barrel pick that just came out last year or the year before. Maybe one of these E's like I've been sipping on. And they say, wow, this has this weird fruity funk to it. So I don't think that there is a wild turkey funk that's the same for everybody. I think it's like, depends on the expression and the year it was bottled and how old it was. And there's just so many factors to that. There's dusty funk and then there's modern whiskey with kind of funky notes to it. But it's hard to nail down exactly a universal definition for wild turkey funk. I think it's just something that sets it apart from other whiskies is probably the best way to define it. And you have to kind of experience it. You know, you can't explain it. So best I can do on that one.

Well, I think that's good enough for me. I always think of it as this musty oak kind of flavor from the old Dusty's, that funk you get. But yeah, everybody takes it different.

Yeah, I mean, Dusty funk to me is one type of thing. And like, if you have a lot of other Dusty whiskies, The dusty funk that you get on wild turkey is very similar to the dusty funk that you get on some other whiskeys too. What causes that? Tons of different stuff. The water isn't reverse osmosis stuff. They weren't chill filtering. They had Cypress tanks. They weren't using automated equipment to make sure everything was exactly the same every time. The grains were different. The oak was different. So many factors and like as Eddie's has said before, there's a lot of older whiskey going into that stuff. So even if it, unless it's like a bottle and bond and you've locked down the exact, you know, distilled date, bottle date, um, you know, you could have like a six year that has 12 year in it. Who knows, you know, just depends on the brand and that type of thing. So.

All right, very cool. So I guess if we have a couple more minutes, I guess really it's a good segue to my next question was, you know, chapter 11 and what's a Dusty? Like what is a Dusty? And I think you do a great job of kind of walking through that, that it's not always necessarily a bottle from, you know, 1914.

As with many things in whiskey, there is a lot of room for interpretation. And a lot of it depends on your perspective. And when you got started in things, like I've seen people like, they'll find like a bottle, like a 2014 bottle of Wild Turkey 101, like, look, I found this 101 Dusty. You know, it's like, I mean, Dusty for you. But you know, when you've had like 70s and 80s Wild Turkey, you don't really look at that like a Dusty. But like if you're just getting into the hobby and all you've had is the latest stuff and you find something from eight or nine years ago to you, that is different. And so it becomes a dusty. It's it's really hard to nail that kind of stuff down. I tried to in that chapter, I tried to say, OK, well, like I kind of look at things like was at least 10 years old because like, you know, I feel like it kind of like you start crossing that if it's sitting in the store for 10 years, we're starting to kind of inch into that. dusty territories and nobody wanted it and it's just sitting there and it represents a profile from another decade. So at least you could say, well, that's kind of a snapshot of another time because it's a decade ago. So, but even that is not a hard line. You know, it's difficult to kind of like, you know, if you found old granddad from 10 years ago, Would you call it dusty old granddad? Probably not. You know, so there's so many factors that, you know, define what a dusty is. And there's people that get mad about it, too. They're like, that's not a Dusty. Dusty is like 1970s, so-and-so, whatever. And it's like, I mean, but to these people, it is so chill. They just got started in the hobby. They're happy to find something from years ago. So if they want to call it a Dusty, let them call it a Dusty. But to me, I think that I look at it like, OK, what's the profile? Is it at least 10 years old? That kind of thing. I mean, I've got a Kentucky spirit from 2015 that tastes like eighties Turkey. I ain't joking you. It's, I don't know what the heck happened or where, what this barrel lived in or what happened, but you can talk to the other people that have had it and picked up the other bottles and they will swear to you. I'm right that it it's from homes liquor in Georgia and it's, uh, it tastes like dusty Turkey. I don't know how to explain it, but it does.

Well, it's great to have all those listeners out there that are finding these things and shouting out to you and saying, Oh, check this out. Right.

Yeah. Oh yeah. It's, it's always fun. And I don't ever poo poo on anybody's, you know, find like, you know, I mean, maybe spiced, you know, if you send me a message, you're like, look what I found. I'm going to be like, eh, okay. But, uh, enjoy that buddy. Um, but, uh, yeah. So it's, it's, it's cool. I mean, you know, you find something that's been sitting around on a shelf for a while, especially these days, like, you know, just for something to sit on the shelf for five years is kind of an accomplishment. It's probably crap whiskey, but maybe not. Maybe you really lucked out and found something cool that's been sitting there for five years. Um, so.

Well, David, you know, we could, we could talk to you for hours. It's always fun. Yeah, it's fun, but it's not reasonable for a podcast episode, right? I mean, we can only hold their attention for so long.

I got hungry kids, man. I got hungry kids.

But we really enjoyed it. We always love having you on the show. It's a great time. You've got so much going on. We didn't touch on all the things you're doing, but you're killing it out there. Oh, thank you, man. Constantly killing it. And more than anything, I think it's fair to note how real you are. Oh, I appreciate that. In your opinions and in the words that you write and certainly in the books that you put out, you don't get much more real than DJ David Jennings, Remembered101.

Well, thank you. I do have a lot of stuff in the works and I can't wait to share on episode four. Awesome.

Great. Well, we would like you to take just a minute here if you have time and just let our listeners know where they can find you, where they can get your book, where they can find out more about your blog and your Patreon and all the things you do have immediately going on. And we'll definitely have you back again for sure.

Okay, so yeah, if you want to find my blog, it's at rarebird101.com. You'll find plenty of Wild Turkey reviews there, articles about Wild Turkey and my travels doing barrel picks and various Wild Turkey related events, and as well as news, press releases, these types of things. For more information about my books, you can go to wildturkeybook.com. There are links there to purchase the books in e-format and in print. And if you're interested in supporting my writing, you can go to patreon.com slash Riverbird 101. As I've mentioned before, I do barrel picks and those barrel picks, while they sometimes go public, they usually sell out with my Patreon supporters first because they're notified first. So check that out again, patreon.com slash Riverbird 101. And thank you, Brian and Jim, for having me. This was a lot of fun and I always enjoy doing the Bourbon Road Podcast. Good show here.

Awesome, David, we really appreciate you taking time out from your busy schedule, from your kids and your dogs and everything else you have going on. Life is real, right? We all have other things.

Man, I'll tell you what, it's been crazy for any listeners.

If you heard some background noise, that's life, man. It's always a blast to have you on the show. Anytime you're in Kentucky, look us up. We'd love to have a pour with you. It's always fun to sit down and sip on a few wild turkey expressions and talk about This particular brand and the detail that you're able to take us through. It's always a journey. We always enjoy it. David, you've been on the show three times now. I think we've got one other guest that's ahead of you. Ashley Barnes, I think has been on four times, but one of you will hit number five first. I'm not sure who it'll be, but. We'll get there. We'll get there. It's always a blast to have you on. We wish you all the luck in the world with your new book and everything you have going on. We'll be shouting to the stars, everything you have going on, because we really enjoy having you around. David, thank you again for being on The Bird Road. Thank you.

Appreciate it, guys. Thank you.

All right, listeners. Well, we thank you for sticking around for a little bit longer than normal episode with David Jennings from Rare Bird 101. Brian and I had an awesome time sitting down with him and drinking through a number of wild turkey expressions. It's been a blast. It's actually been phenomenal reading through his latest book. If you get a chance to order Wild Turkey Musings, I definitely suggest you do it. David mentioned on the show how you can get with his publisher and order a copy of that book to get it shipped out immediately. If you don't mind the wait, you can always go to Amazon.com, search for David Jennings or Wild Turkey Musings and put it on pre-order. You won't get it until February, but hey, you'll still get it anyway. It's a great read. Maybe when it comes in, you could pour yourself a nice Wild Turkey 101 and just sit back and enjoy a nice read. You can find The Bourbon Road on all social medias. You can find us on Instagram, TikTok, Facebook, YouTube. You can find us on the internet, on our website, thebourbonroad.com. You can also find us on our private Facebook group, The Bourbon Roadies. It's about 3,000 of our wonderful listeners who really find it enjoyable to revisit our podcasts and listen from time to time. They love to go into the group and talk about Bourbon, talk about the podcast episodes. More importantly, they love to share whiskey amongst each other. Sharing pores of your favorite bourbon, as we talked about in this episode is something special. We all love to do it. Uh, we'd love to have you be a bourbon roadie. It's real easy. Just get onto Facebook, search the bourbon roadies, a private group link will come up, click on it, join as answer a few questions and come on in. We will welcome you with open arms. We do a show every single week. We'll have a guest on. Brian and I will drink through a number of expressions. Sometimes we'll have an author or sometimes a musician or sometimes a master distiller, somebody in the industry that's making news and making it happen. We love to have them on the show. We hope you listen to our show every single week, the way to make sure you don't miss one. is to go onto that podcast app you're listening to us on right now and subscribe. Hit that subscribe button, that plus button, that remind me button, whatever button is coming up in your podcast, make sure you set it to remind you when a podcast is coming out and you'll get that ding notification to let you know that us two jokers have another show coming out. We hope you enjoy it. You can always reach out to us on our website. That's where we prefer. You can send us emails also. You can send an email to team at the bourbonroad.com. Brian and I both get it. We'll be happy to respond. If you've got an idea for a bottle or a guest on the show, we get them all the time. We'll definitely take it from there. Every single week, we hope you come into our bar, come into our studio, listen to what we have going on. We always have a blast doing it. But until next time, we'll see you on down the bourbon road.