324. The Most Surprising Whiskeys of 2022

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. 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. Welcome back listeners to another episode of the Bourbon Road podcast. I'm your host, Jim Shannon. We've got a great show in store for you today. And today on the show, our guest is Jason C. Jason, is it all, is it still Jason C? He can use my full name. Jason Calori, the mashing drum. Old friend. Actually, I might even say somewhat of a mentor to me because I think it's his YouTube channel that kind of gave me inspiration to, to kind of start the podcast. So we go back a long way. We've been on a number of adventures together, I should say. And it's great to have him on the show today to catch up a little bit. And today, Jason, we're going to sort of dive into some, what we think are our surprising American whiskeys of 2022.

Yeah, I love it. It's a, it's a great topic. Well, first, first of all, you know, thanks for having me on Jim's really going to catch up with you to talk to you again and go through this list. I mean, I probably had more disappointments than anything this year, but I will say the ones that surprised me that we'll talk about have really surprised me. So I'm looking forward to taking a deep dive with you on these.

Yeah. You know, when I was thinking about this, you know, it was, it was surprising. Whiskeys can be good and bad, right? I mean, you can have a surprising whiskey that, that is just out of the box blows you away because it's something special and different you've never had before. Yep. And on the other hand, you can have whiskey that kind of just disappointed you, you know, just didn't quite measure up to what you thought it might be. Maybe it didn't measure up to the price, right?

Yeah, I mean, it's harder and harder to do that each passing year because prices just seem to go up. And it's almost like the limited releases or the new releases that come out, you're looking at paying normally 100 bucks minimum, if not 200, to get any of these bottles these days. So pricing has become really hard to navigate, especially with the changing market. And there's still so many good bourbons that are just available on the shelf that when you're reviewing these and you're going through the costs and the differences and the value, it's really hard to judge because I'll say most of the special releases I've had this year or limited releases or distillery releases haven't been still as good as some of the stuff I could just get on the shelf a lot cheaper. I think that's the part that worries me a little bit about American whiskey.

I'm always excited to open the package, you know, to open the bottle and see what's in there. I still get that, you know, that little schoolboy kind of Christmas gift kind of excitement in me. Every time a bottle arrives or a friend drops one off or something, but you're right. You're not always pleasantly surprised. Sometimes you're a little disappointed. And honestly, there's such a large variety of whiskies on the market now. Not like when we started this a few years back, right? Things were a little bit limited back then. We've got a lot to choose from today. A lot of great whiskies and a lot of, well, so-so whiskies, right?

Yeah, you have brands that are extending their product lines. You have new blenders coming into the mix that I think are making interesting things, whether it be just straight up blends, double oak finishes. Burai was a big category this year. A lot of bourbon and rye blends, which I think were really interesting, most of them. But yeah, there's so much to choose from. Then I think you have the other side of it where you could kind of tell it's just whiskey names and people getting into the business just to kind of make a buck and just to get their bottle on the shelf. But I think for most folks, there's a marketing spin to that. And then for bourbon drinkers and whiskey nerds and bourbon nerds, I think they can kind of see through some of that stuff. But it's true. There's still a FOMO aspect to it all. where you want to have the latest release you want to you know be able to taste what it like because it really doesn't matter sometimes like whatever i say as a reviewer anybody else does there's going to be a part of that singular person that's going to want to get that bottle anyway to taste it for themselves and there's nothing wrong with that absolutely i agree with you completely well i think we probably ought to get get to the whiskey we've got um

eight bottles to go through on the show today. So viewers, sit back, relax, enjoy yourself, grab a pour of your own and grab that surprising whiskey that you had this year and just join in with us. So surprisingly enough, I think our first whiskey is a rye and it actually is the same rye. We both picked the same bottle.

Yeah. I, and this was by no means planned. We just happened, we just jumped on before we recorded and we're like, Hey, what bottles you have? And the first bottle ended up being one we both had, which is crazy. Why don't you let us know what it is.

All right. So we've got the, uh, the hard truth sweet mash rye out of Brown County, Indiana, Nashville, Indiana, out of the hard truth distillery. And this is a sweet mash rye. And it's actually a fairly young rye, right?

Yeah, it's only two to three years old. I mean, and I think the flavor that you get in this bottle was what surprised I think both of us how good and well rounded of a rye was. And I know you read the word sweet mash. I don't know if that plays into your brain a little bit because it does drink very sweet for a rye. And I love it. It's got a really nice Bounds of rice spice and sweetness. It's, it's a fantastic ride. One that just kind of came on the radar, had no idea what it was. And I tried it and man, is it fantastic stuff.

And you've got a little in your glass and so do I. Yep. You know, it's kind of nice fruity nose. Uh, for me, it's kind of got those, uh, those spiced apples. Mm hmm.

Yeah, I'm with you. I think apple, caramel, a little bit of mint there from that rice spice. Yeah, it's, it's, it's, it's really interesting to me, this bottle, how, how it really blends using that sweet match process, how it really blends the, um, you know, those sweet and spicy notes. And it's just really like, you don't, you just don't expect that from a two to three year ride. I think the only one that ever broke the mold for me that actually had that was wilderness trail. I think when wilderness trail was first coming out, their single barrel rise, I was super impressed at how good they were for the age. And I think I would put this right up there with that.

Yeah, absolutely. I tend to agree with you. Now this one's kind of dark too. I mean, it's got great color to it. Uh, surprisingly for two to three years old, it looks more like what you would expect to see in a five year old, right?

Yep. Yeah. Good color to it. It's, it's very viscous on the palette as well.

Now this was a batch of 30 barrels. Uh, it's a, if I, if I remember correctly, this is a 94% ride, 6% malted, right? I think. Mm hmm. So a hundred percent right. They had 30 barrels in the batch.

So which batch do you have? You have batch, uh, that's one. Okay.

So I'm drinking that too. Okay.

It's still pretty similar to what I tried from batch, uh, from batch one.

I think it ages a little bit between each batch. Uh, not a lot, but a little bit.

It gets a little bit older and. I remember tasting this and just be saying to myself, besides Wilderness Trail, I can't think of a first batch product that has blown me away like this. I like, to me, it's that good. I mean, I, I mean, there's like that mix of orchard fruit in it, but then it gets into, there's like a dark, like almost like coffee, like coffee bean type thing going on to deep brown sugars. It's just, it's so good.

Yeah. I get a little bit of, uh, like raisin and licorice on the palette. Uh, but kind of more, more raisin.

Yeah, I, when I had this blind the first time I thought it was finished because it was so flavorful. And when they told me it was a two year, I couldn't even believe it. So, so you tasted this one blind. That's, that's awesome. Yeah. So have you been to the distillery? I have not because, um, I just, you know, I'm not in Indiana often. Usually when I'm in Indiana, I'm down at starlight. So I have to definitely make, I definitely have to make a trip over there and see, you know, hard truth and what they're working on. Cause it's, it's, uh, it's good stuff. I think, uh, actually, you know, I'm going to be actually putting a video out on the next couple of rides here in the next couple of weeks. So cause I'm just, I'm just so impressed with how good that riot is.

Well, it's a great place to go to and visit. The distillery is phenomenal and the people there are really nice. The town that it's in is a great getaway for a day or a weekend. Definitely a nice place to go. I love it. What's next on our list here? I'm going to let you lead out.

I don't have a bottle list yet, but Jack Daniels was really nice enough to send me a sample to do a video on, which I did. It's the Jack Daniels double barrel single malts finished in Oloroso sherry casks. I know it's a, it's kind of a mouthful, but this was a, uh, kind of a project, I guess that Jack Daniels we've seen, they've been working on it for years, trying to perfect, you know, learning about single malt. Now, as you know, uh, Brown Foreman, owns Jack Daniels as well as old Forrester, but they also own some pretty pretty well-known single malt scotch distilleries, including Glyndronik, which is, you know, for scotchheads, Glyndronik is an extremely well-known and very highly regarded producer of single malt scotch. So I think Jack Daniels, you know, and speaking with Chris Fletcher, they had the opportunity to go over to Scotland and kind of learn about the whole process as they were starting it. And I think what came out, what Jack Daniels created, with this limited edition release is something I never would have expected. Now we got to try some of their single malt in the Jack Daniel's Triple Mash that came out this year, which was a really nice 30, $35 bottle. That was a blend though. So you had some of the bourbon, you had the rye, then you had their single malt in it. So we didn't really get to try the single malt in all its glory just yet until they released this bottle. And, you know, for someone that wouldn't really expect much from a Jack Daniels single malt, it really surprised me how good it was. It's like drinking raspberry jam. It is so good. Wow. So good.

Yeah. So is this is this bottle available now?

It's just starting to hit, you know, retail now. I mean, obviously, now this falls in line, the same bottles like the barrel proof rye, the heritage release, the, you know, what was what was the one, you know, the Koi Hill, which was last year's release. So this is the next one in that lineup of limited edition special releases for for the year. So Yeah, but it's starting to hit the market now. I think some people have already gotten them. I've already seen them on secondary here and there. But yeah, they're out there. I don't think it's going to be everyone's favorite because it is so different. It is a multiness to it. I will say when I tried it, I was surprised still there's that little bit of Jack Daniel's DNA in the backbone of it that you could taste. You still get a little bit of the maple syrup, the banana that's on the back end of it, but it's all layered with that malty brown sugary raspberry jam and chocolate. It's an absolute stunner of a whiskey. And maybe I wasn't so much surprised that Jack Daniels would put out or make something that's a single malt that's completely new that would be so good. Maybe I shouldn't have been surprised, but it sure as hell surprised me.

Well, I think single malts in general are coming into their own here in America and it's just it's an amazing trend and it's one that I'm pretty excited about.

Yeah. I mean, single mall is going to be where it's at. And it's finally getting a legal definition from the TTB. So by the end of the year, so I think it's going to be, this makes it easier for, you know, single malls, American single malls that compete with other, you know, uh, whiskey categories in the, in the U S so it's an exciting time for them.

So Jason, how many videos a week are you putting out now?

About three plus a, plus a live stream.

It's a lot. You know, it keeps you busy.

Definitely keeps me busy, but you know it's. You know, I love it. I love doing it. If I didn't love it, I wouldn't be doing it. And that's truly the crux of everything. You shouldn't really be doing it if you don't love it. So I love it. I love the community. I love my patrons. I love the people that I've met. It's hard to not keep going when you have so much just unrelenting support. And I couldn't be more thankful for them.

So you've got a pretty good-sized community now of patrons and of viewers in general. Yep. I mean, it's kind of a family, right? How's it been growing that over the years?

It really is. I think COVID really kind of sprung everything up because people were home a lot and watching WhiskeyTube. The only thing that people really could do at home is drink a little. So they were tuning in and learning about all these channels and a bunch of new channels also sprung up. I mean, there's channels that just do live streams as community hangouts now. They're not really putting out reviews or content, but they're just you know, jumping on and inviting other people in the whiskey community that watch WhiskeyTube and YouTube to jump on and just hang out and talk about whiskey and just like the most uncorrupted, you know, like beautiful part of what I love about WhiskeyTube just because it's just so it's just like a great bunch of people with different creeds and backgrounds, you know, doesn't matter what they believe or what the where they're from. It's everyone's just there to talk about the whiskey and hang out and learn more about each other. And I think that's what's the amazing part.

Yeah, it's pretty amazing. So, I mean, when you started There were just a rare few, right, doing this around the world.

There was, I think there was, there was more than that, but I think there was, you know, when I first started, I think there were like maybe three to four or five like main whiskey content creators that people looked to. When I came around, there was still, you know, the bourbon junkies had this kind of joined on at them. You know, my buddy Scott from my bourbon journey, he was kind of already going. And there were there was a few more sprinkled in there, too. And we all kind of came up together, like through this time of covid. And it really has become the family has just grown larger. And I think I think in some cases it's it's gotten better. You know, and very few cases, I think it's, you know, it's gotten worse just because it opens you up for a little bit more criticism, you know, here and there from, you know, there are a lot of very salty people in the whiskey game, it seems.

Oh, yeah. Self-proclaimed, right? Yeah. Yes. Yes. All right. So I'm going to move on to my second. surprising poor of the year. And, uh, this is from a very small distillery in Kentucky, not far from the Tennessee border, dueling grounds, distillery. This is the Lincoln pinch, Kentucky straight bourbon. It's a four year old bourbon. This is a single barrel. Uh, this is actually a weeded bourbon and it's four years old and it's a full strength. So 120 proof. And yeah, yeah, it's amazing. Now, I was telling you before the show, before we went on air, I was kind of saying, you know, this bottle either is an amazing single barrel sent down from the heavens or they just make really good whiskey there.

I'd like to think they make really good whiskey there.

This is a spice drop candy for me on the nose. Like, you know those little sugar coated bell shaped spice drop candies that you have at the holidays? Oh yeah, absolutely. It's all about that on the nose. It does have a little bit of licorice to it.

So that's 66 corn, 22 wheat, 11 barley. Is that the match bowl?

You caught me off guard. Normally I do my research.

I'm just reading it. I'm just reading it. I'm wondering if that's what it says in the bottle anywhere. But I do like the bottle. I do like the bottle the way it looks. I like the label. It's pretty cool.

Yeah, it's, it's really good. And now this place is super, super small. It's, it's about the size of an old, uh, gas station, but very small place. But, but guess what guys, they make their own stuff. A hundred percent of it. They make it, they bottle at the age that they do it all. So, uh, if you are traveling between. Louisville and Nashville. You get down just a little bit past Bowling Green, Kentucky, and turn off on the exit right before you hit the Tennessee line there. Turn off on Franklin, Kentucky exit, about five miles off the interstate there. You can go visit them and get a bottle for yourself. It's some really good whiskey. This is a it's soft but at the same time is layered with a lot of flavor it has a lot of spiciness to it and the finish on it is surprisingly long and characteristically so for like a weeded bourbon i think it really carries a long finish.

Yeah. You would, you know, with that, every time like you drink a Weeder, you know, people think that it's automatically going to be like an easy experience, but you know, I've had a lot of more of the youthful side Weeders that have had a lot of spice to it that I really enjoyed.

Yeah. I mean, this does have a little bit of licorice on the palate too. And it's, but it's very, very mouth coating. And, uh, I think one of my notes from when we reviewed it was that it has kind of a candied jalapeno on the back end. So.

Oh, so it's got that much spice.

Yeah. Yeah. It's, it's a spicy weeded bourbon, no doubt, but it's, it's tastefully done. It's, it's a really good, this is a really good barrel. I just hope they're all this good. Yeah. I will tell you this. I stopped in there to pick up the bottle one day and it was like a revolving door, people in and out all day long, just buying, buying bottles, buying bottles.

That's awesome. So my next bottle. is the Chattanooga Founders 10th anniversary blend.

One I haven't had.

Yeah, which is one of those bottles where, again, I mean, I love what Chattanooga does. And I'm a huge fan of Tim Pearson and the whole team down there. You know, back in 2012, you know, Chattanooga was blending and bottling their 1816 bottleings. But that was MGP. And eventually, they had to make their own stuff because their whole mantra was, let's have whiskey back in Chattanooga. Well, to them, it's like, well, we're sitting here saying that Chattanooga whiskey, but we're buying it from MGP in Indiana. So once their stuff was ready to go, they developed their Tennessee high malt. which is a high malt bourbon recipe. So the Chattanooga founders is a blend of three whiskey recipes distilled in Chattanooga and Lawrenceburg, Indiana. So they kind of combine the past and present to make this founders blend. And you just wouldn't think a high malt and MGP would really work together as like a separate blend, but it really does. It is mouth coating, it is sweets, it is a little bit spicy, it's chocolatey, got a little smokiness to it as well. It's really delicious stuff. It's more of a chocolatey and rye, almost like a spicy tobacco type note to it. And I absolutely loved it. They really did a good job with it.

Can you get your hands on it at all or is it pretty much?

Apparently it is still around, probably mostly in Tennessee. I'm not sure how much it got out of Tennessee, but I have some friends in Tennessee that say that they're still hanging around. So yeah, if you know anyone in Tennessee, have them grab you one.

Now, uh, the Chattanooga distillery down there, the Chattanooga whiskey company, they, they kind of pioneered getting a distilling back into Tennessee, didn't they? I mean, they were among the first to really get it going again.

Yeah. I mean, the story is really amazing. Chattanooga built a distillery without the legal license to actually distill anything. Chattanooga used to be a pretty bustling hub of distillation, pre-prohibition. They're right there on the water, right there by the river. And a lot of steamships and boats coming in and out of there with whiskey. And once prohibition happened, like a lot of other places, it kind of stopped and then never really resurfaced. Chattanooga, even though it's an interesting being in Tennessee, you know, Jack Daniels is there. Um, but it was one of the, it's one of the counties that just didn't allow distillation. So they really had to fight to get it lifted and be able to do that. And so they, they bet big and it's worked out for them because they're putting out some really great whiskey.

Yeah, that's awesome. Well, Jason, we're up against a break here. We're going to take a quick break. And when we come back, we have, I've got at least two more and you've got at least one more, right? And then we have some honorable mentions too, right? And some honorable mentions. So folks don't go away. When we get back, a lot more to come. Folks, we definitely encourage you to check out seldomseenmaple.com. That's seldomseenfarms. Kevin and his staff there are doing a fantastic job. And 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.com. Get yourself. All right, so we are back. I'm still sipping on a little bit of that Lincoln pinch bourbon. I'm trying to get rid of it because I'm up next. I got another bottle. That's right. Pressure's on. Pressure's on. So next on my list. So I'm, I'm getting out of the bourbon now. I had a rye and I had a bourbon now. I've got an American single pot still whiskey. This is the Virgin white oak cask from town new a distillery out of Colorado. This is the first. single pot still whiskey to be produced in the United States. So for those who don't know what a single pot still whiskey is, if you're a bourbon lover and haven't delved much into Irish whiskey, a single pot still whiskey is a combination of both malted barley and unmalted barley. So back when the King of England was taxing uh, the Irish people on their malt, they decided, well, if he's going to tax us on malt, we'll start using unmalted barley to make our whiskey and we won't get taxed on that. So there's a way to get around taxes, but it became a very, uh, desirable mash bill. And even today it's, uh, it's one of the best, right? Irish whiskeys.

Yeah, I mean, Irish whiskey is a huge growing, you know, segment in whiskey in the world in general. So there's one other there's one other distillery. Well, there's a few that I know, but the one I've gotten to try is called ASW out of out of Georgia and Atlanta, Georgia. And they're also making their own. I think you have to call it in. Irish style American whiskey. Is that the, is that the, the language they have to use on the label? Cause they can't call it Irish whiskey. So I think you have to say Irish style.

Yeah. You can say Irish style. You can't, you can't call it Irish whiskey because that's, that's protected the same way bourbon is. Uh, but in the case, but it is an American whiskey category, right?

Yeah, exactly. Yep. ASW was the one that jumps out that I got to try and I thought it was very impressive. It did taste very Irish or Irish style, I should say. They all, you know, they did a, you know, single pot still as well. So really, really good stuff. I mean, some of those single possils, they get up in age, use that combination of malted and unmarked on malted barley. They get really tropical. I got like pineapple and all these great deep rich flu fruit flavors for days.

So this is, uh, this is really got the, the baking cabinet and kind of the spice cab nutmeg. It's kind of buttery. Still sweet.

I mean, yeah, buttery is a pretty, it's a pretty, uh, common term for, you know, Irish whiskeys or Irish style. And let's get like that, uh, that butter, like that butter and biscuits like type, uh, flavor profile.

Yeah. On the palette, it's honey. It's a kind of, well, I would say it's a little more maple kind of syrupy brown sugar kind of toffee chocolate. I mean, it's got a lot going. It's very layered.

And what was, I'm sorry. What was the age on that one?

I don't know what the age on this one is. It's 86 proof. Minimum of three years.

Three years. Okay. That's a pretty, that's a decent age. But yeah, as that stuff gets older, um, it's going to get definitely more tropical. I think I'm not sure how, how, uh, how far they're going to be aging their stuff, but yeah, that's what usually happens.

I mean, it settles in on the, on the back of the panel with like a, a nice toasted Oak, a little bit of ginger. It's got, it's got a lot of notes to it. I think you could sit and sip on this. This is sessionable for sure. This is one that you could sit down with a bottle with a buddy and, uh, make it disappear over the course of several hours. It's got a lot going on.

Yeah. I mean, at 86 first, I mean, I can imagine it being pretty sessionable. Yep.

Yeah, that's awesome. So Jason, you you're doing a lot of barrel picks now, right?

Yeah, it's pretty nonstop. Um, but that's what we want to bring to the, um, you know, to my patrons. Um, we've kind of kept it small. Uh, so for those of you that don't know, um, I have combined with, uh, Scott from my bourbon journey to make the mash and journey whiskey club. And basically if you're a patron, you get access to the picks and, um, as long as they don't sell out, which most of them usually do. But the whole deal of us doing this was to try to bring the best single barrels and the most variety that we could to everyone. And I think doing this so far, two years, the first year we did about maybe 20-ish, 22, 23 picks. And this year, we're already going to be up to about 50. So we've done a lot. Yeah, there's been a lot in the last year that we've done. And we've already had picks lined up for next year. And we're just kind of, I think the thing that we learned with so many groups doing picks now these days, we have to really be more cognizant of what we're picking and be a little bit more selective as to what we want to bring the group.

Sure. So I would imagine with 50 picks, you're not traveling to 50 places. So some of these are definitely samples coming to you, right?

Yeah, most of them are. I think the ones that we have been able to get out to that's been really interesting. I would say Cedar Ridge is probably one of the most fun I had was going over to Cedar Ridge in Iowa. you know in the middle of corn country and learning what they do and their process and um you know when you kind of visit some of these smaller distilleries you know out in the middle of nowhere i mean you really kind of you know get to see what they're working with and what their what their mantra is what their whole mindset is when it comes to distilling their philosophy Maybe some of the things that they do a little bit differently than other distilleries. It's really interesting when you kind of go to these different places. And I mean, you know, you're all over Kentucky visiting distilleries from the small ones to the big ones. Everybody does something a little bit different, which is I think what makes them unique.

Yeah, it's a different, it's kind of a different experience when you get to go, uh, to the distillery itself, especially these smaller craft distilleries that are out and about, uh, whether they be, you know, in, in Iowa or in Ohio or wherever it may be to get to these smaller distilleries and, and hear their stories and talk to their distillers and meet the people. They don't get a lot of media in there. Like, like those that are on the bourbon trail, you know, get a lot of traffic. Uh, but it's, it's always great to go and experience that and it makes for a great pick. It's a lot of fun. Have you been able to take any of your, uh, your patrons on picks?

Yeah, that's, uh, as many as we can when we can. Obviously, when COVID was happening, it was a little bit tougher to get out to certain areas. But we've had patrons on live picks before helping pick barrels virtually. Some Woodinvilles, we did some Dripless Glen, Jack Daniels. Actually, we did 2 barrels with them. We got 2 Jack Daniels single barrel, barrel proof picks. And all this with getting as many patrons as we can involved if we can because I think that's a big part of the of the experience too, because you want to, you know, you want to feel like you're, you know, you were part of it. And I make sure if we allowed to do a sticker on the bottle, you know, I definitely call out, you know, the whole group that, that, uh, that helped us and they get there, they get to see their name on the sticker and everything. I think it's, it's great. It's a, it's an experience.

So do you do all those sticker designs or you and Scott do those sticker designs?

No, I make, I make all of them. Scott can't even draw a stick figure. So yeah. We love this guy. You can't, you can't draw. So, yeah.

All right. Well, I'll definitely say if you get a chance to try a town newer, uh, by the way, town newer is kind of an odd name, but it means, uh, New land, new land, it's Gaelic for new land. So this is, uh, this is their kind of way of saying that, you know, they're, they're, they're doing the Irish work over here in the U S now. So kind of cool.

All right, Jason, what do you have next? I'm excited. So my last bottle is the wild Turkey, unforgotten. This is their master's key from this year. And while I. So while Turkey still remains my favorite, you know, bourbon brand, distillery, whatever you want to call it. I love while Turkey. Um, but based on last year's, I was not a fan of the, of the one, uh, the toasted one that they brought out last year. I thought it was, it was a good whiskey. It was a decent bourbon, but I didn't think it was master's keep worthy. Um, so I don't know. I really wasn't sure what to expect with the unforgotten. I wasn't really crazy about the name of it. I was kind of already prejudging it, but ma'am, when I tasted it, yikes, was I wrong? This, this thing is such a good blend of straight bourbon and rye and then finished in a rye cask. It's 105 proof. I think it's 13 year old bourbon and eight to nine year old rye that's in the blend. That's all Wild Turkey does. They have a bourbon and a rye. They don't really have much else unless you want to talk about the wild honey. Delacour, but this one is just sweet caramel, cinnamon, rye spice kind of comes into the to the balance as well. It gets fruity, gets gingery. It's just all over the palate. And my favorite part of this whiskey this year is just how much it sustains its spice from the front of the palate to the back. And every time you go back to it and sip it, it doesn't go flat. It doesn't lose that interesting quality to it that makes it so good. And I just think I don't know what so many of these releases coming out. And I was, I think I was on kind of like the downturn where I was, I was reviewing a lot of whiskies where I just was not happy with. I'm like, all right, come on, Walter young forgotten. Let's see what happens. And then I tried it. I'm like, yes. Wow. Turkey saves the day. This is so good.

And that's a little bit of Bruce, right?

This was a lot of Bruce. A lot of Bruce, but you know, had some, I think Eddie chose the cast, but it was really Bruce's idea to kind of put it all together and finish it in a rye cask. And I know Bruce was super proud of this one. And I, I love this bottle. I know some people are a little bit lukewarm on it. I think some people want it to be a bourbon or rye, but man, do I love how this blends. So big surprise. That's going to die.

Yeah. I was going to say that, you know, that's okay because, you know, not everybody has to like everything everybody. That's why there's so much variety out there. We each get to choose our own lane. And, uh, you know, it's kind of with that, with that bottle of, uh, well, I'll talk about that later. I don't want to, I don't want to spoil the, the honorable mentions. So I'll just leave that. I'll leave that life. sounds good. All right. So well, I'm going to move on to my next bottle. And my next bottle is also also a wild turkey. And this just happens to be the the wild turkey 12 year one-on-one export, they brought it back. And I know everybody has, uh, has heard that the export is, is back now and, uh, pretty excited about it. And I just happened to, uh, I happened on a bottle of it because it's very hard to get because it's only available in Japan, Korea, and Australia.

Yep.

And, uh, and certain, um, people who travel internationally can get it for you. So we had, uh, David Jennings on the show a couple of weeks back, and, uh, this was one of the bottles we tasted with him and we hadn't had it before he had. And, uh, it was pretty excited to try it for the first time.

Yeah, it's, um, That bottle really surprised me. I was lucky enough to get one too from someone traveling. I don't know, there's a certain representation of just really good aged oak in that bottle that I'm super impressed with. Because you think sometimes wild turkey getting into that 12 year space, it could get a little bit oaky, tannic, maybe a little bit medicinal, but this does not. It's a beautifully crafted 12 year bourbon from wild turkey.

Yeah, I like to think it's still 101. It still has that wild turkey profile, but it's amped up a little bit on the cherry and the brown sugar. It's got a nice cinnamon clove combination to it. You know, when you have, have you ever made a hot toddy and you get that cinnamon clove and it's got a nice balance of cinnamon and clove to it. It's just, it's just a wonderfully delicious whiskey. And Dave kind of dropped a bomb on us. We had him on the show. He's talking about his new book. Uh, while Turkey musings and, uh, he said, you know, the wild Turkey 12 year, one-on-one export is probably my 2022 bourbon of the year.

So yeah, that's, uh, that's from the man himself. That's high praise from, uh, from David.

Yep.

Yeah. Absolutely. It is. It doesn't punch very high. It's, um, you know, even at 101 proof, I still think it drinks below that, you know, for me, uh, for me personally, but man, the flavors that it has and the beautiful Oak on it, it's just, it's a, it's a unbelievable release. I, I, I do wish we would see that in the States for more people to try that. And I hope that does come down the pipeline at some point.

Yeah, it would it would be awesome. I guess that's on everybody's wish list is to have the 12 year one on one available here in the States. But well, let's we'll see.

I'm just going to say you never know. Never know.

A little bit of cherry on the nose, a little bit of cherry on the palate. And my goodness, dried cherries on the finish. I think the cherries carry through on this one. I really like it a lot. And I thought I had my bourbon of the year figured out and we haven't announced yet. I'm getting close. This is definitely in the running. We'll see where it ends up. Yeah.

Yeah, this Unforgotten is definitely going to be up there. I'm just not sure what category I put it in. I think it's just going to be my top 10 bourbons and whiskeys because this is a blend of bourbons and ryes. So you could either call it a rye or a bourbon, but it's just a really unique blend of straight whiskeys. So I love it.

So what happened to the rum and bourbon kind of thing? Is it, is it drifting away a little bit or is it, is it maintaining a little bit of steam?

Yeah, I don't, I mean, I think people are doing it, but I think the, I think the trend now is beer finished bourbons. I think that's what we're, I think that's what we're seeing more often is beer finishes, um, stouts, porters, IPAs, pale ales, whatever people, whatever beers people can get their hands on. I really feel like. towards the later half of the year. That's what I've been seeing. Obviously, you have certain things that trend. Also, I think this year we saw a lot more Rye's that are finished rather than Bourbon's that are finished. So Rye's finished in Port, Madeira, Apple Brandy, whatever it may be. I'm just seeing. I felt like... And I kind of like that. I feel like I tend to finish ryes more than bourbons, because I think the rye holds up to the finish, where sometimes the bourbon can get overtaken by the finish.

I think that's very, very true. And I've noticed it a number of times. We receive a lot of bottles in, as you do as well, I'm sure, for reviews. And from time to time, you do get those bourbons that have just They've just been overpowered by the finishing and rice. Yeah, they hold up. They hold up a lot better to that. I think exactly. They do. Yep. So I got another question for you and that is, um, what do you think about, do you think there's a little bit of consolidation going on in the, in the, in the whiskey world? Um, we've, we've had a lot of acquisitions going on lately.

Yeah, and I'll give a shout out to Fred Minick, you know, listening to him at the beginning of or the end of last year. You know, he he kind of called it. He he said that we're going to see a lot of consolidation and that's what we've been seeing. You know, you saw what happened with Wilderness Trail. um and some other uh you know woodenville got got bought recently and there's just a lot happening with uh distilleries uh barstown bourbon company as well was not immune to that either uh but yeah i i think a lot of that is going to happen especially with some of the smaller distilleries uh once they hit a certain point and making enough money for for some investor to come in or some one of the bigger brands to come in and buy something up. And I think that's I think the more that some of these brands more that they could get underneath their umbrella, their portfolio, I think they're going to try to do it.

Now, some of the consolidation that took place back in the eighties and nineties, uh, those brands were more or less relegated to the bottom shelf, right? A lot of them were anyway. Do you think some of that's going to happen now as well?

Um, uh, I, I would say yes. I mean, I, I don't think anything is out of the realm. I mean. I mean, look at, uh, look at Diageo. I mean, they just bought Balcones out of Texas, which is a huge single mall distillery. So I think, I think nobody's immune to it at this point. I think we're just going to keep seeing it.

Yeah, I think it'll continue. And, uh, but, but still we have a lot of small distilleries popping up, new distilleries popping up all the time. People wanting to get into the game. Uh, it seems like more and more lately it is non-distilling producers though.

Yeah, it's mostly non-isolating producers. I think a lot of people just want the name. Some people want the whiskey. Um, look at Barts on bourbon company. I mean, they, they bought, they, uh, bought one of, uh, another, oh, I'm actually maybe showing my hand a little bit here is one of my, uh, my, my, um, for surprise. Yeah. Um, and that's green river. Um, green river was sold to Barts on bourbon company. Um, and I thought it was. you know, to provide suburban companies and not only get that distillery but get the names, get the products and also have another distillery where they can produce whiskey. I think that's some of the other part of it that people aren't looking at. You know, some of these huge distilleries that are buying smaller ones, they just don't have enough capacity to keep up with it. So they want to buy another distillery if they can and just have some more space, have another still that they can use to produce more whiskey. so i think that's another big part of it as well but yeah green river i'll just say now that that was for a thirty five dollar bourbon that was one of the most impressive bourbons i had this year for the price for the money the high rye aspect of it and another product that green river makes is the wheel horse bourbon and That's 101 proof bourbon that goes right up against Wild Turkey 101. I mean, I did those in a blind in a video and I almost lost it because I couldn't tell what was what. And I'm like, oh my God, am I about to go against my beloved Wild Turkey 101? Yeah, those two really well-priced brands from Green River are absolutely delicious. And those were a couple of surprises for me.

Let's go ahead since you kind of started off here talking about honorable mentions. These are, these are whiskeys that didn't make our cut for the show, but we definitely want to make sure we give them a shout out. Um, I had, I had, um, two whiskeys that were going to be, cause I was going to consider for most improved. basically the distillery or the expression that was most improved. And it was kind of a toss up for me between two of them. One of them was Devils River out of Texas, whose initial release kind of disappointed a little bit, I think. And then their most recent release that I had just maybe a month ago was a very nice surprise, very nice. So, if you've had Devil's River in the past, I would suggest that you try some of their latest models, and I think you'll find that they're much improved. The other one was Jeff the Creed distillery. Jeff the Creed had a little bit of a rough start, as we all know, and some of their initial, at least their four grain whiskey, was kind of polarizing, I think, and not everybody accepted it well. But I will tell you this, that their more recent releases, particularly the red, white, and blue release they just had to honor Veterans Day, it has bloody butcher red corn in it, it has blue corn, and it has white sweet corn in it. It was pretty darn tasty. So they've got some good things going on. They did get to taste their more recent well-aged six-year weeded bourbon. And I have to say that it's delicious. So some good things coming out of there. And definitely worth a trip back around to Jep the Creed to check them out again. They're also doing some contract distilling. And there's a Burnt Church distillery out of South Carolina as a Johnny Fever expression, and that's made by Jeff the Creed, and it's actually pretty darn tasty. So I think nice. I think they got some good things going on. So most improved anyway, most improved.

Yeah. I mean, if I had to pick a most improved, I probably will stay local here as well. I'll probably go with watershed distillery here in Columbus, Ohio. When I first moved here, they were using a very unique mash bill using spelt. And spelt is a pretty ubiquitous grain that you can find in and around Ohio. And I think to kind of utilize the spelt as a grain primarily in Ohio to use in the mash spill, I thought it was a good callback to Ohio's roots. But at the same time, I just didn't think it really worked well in a mash spill. And I was not a fan. So, um, so what they did is they hired, uh, one of the distillers, uh, from Barton distillery, uh, came over to watershed the last couple of years. He kind of transformed the mash bill went to a little bit more of a traditional mash bill of, uh, corn, rye, malted barley. And their stuff has just been getting better and better each and every year. So I think, uh, watershed has been doing some, uh, some great things.

Awesome. I had one last one for me, uh, honorable mention, and, uh, it would have made the show for sure, except I drank it all. I don't have any to taste.

So that's a good thing.

Yeah, I had, I had none left to really taste to give notes on. So, but it's a Leopold brothers, a three chamber rye. And, uh, for me, that is in my top. probably three or five whiskeys of all times.

Really? All time?

All time for me. But, you know, I have to understand the fact that that profile is not for everybody, right? It's definitely, you like it or you hate it or you love it or you hate it or, you know, whatever that dichotomy is.

Yeah.

Yeah. I would. And I fell in love with it.

So yeah, I would agree. It's very floral, very different. There's, but I mean, you know, when you're trying to recreate a rye style whiskey from, you know, back in the 1800s using that style, I mean, it's going to be different. And I think I had no problem with it. I thought it was very unique. It was, like I said, it's very floral. It's very different. But, you know, I enjoyed it just because I think there's so much stuff out these days you're trying to set yourselves apart. And that certainly did.

Yeah, I guess for me, I'm always looking for that thing that's just out of the box, different. Somebody's just doing it crazy different and you can't get that flavor anywhere else. I'm the same way at a restaurant. If I get a plate and it's just something altogether different that I've never had before, I get really excited about it. So Jason, I think we gave people a few things to think about here.

I think so. I think there's definitely a lot of stuff to look out for. Like I said, there's just so much... Like we talked about, there's just so much stuff that has hit the market. Trying to figure out what surprised you, what didn't. It's kind of fun when you look back because I hadn't really looked back at the whole catalog of everything that I tasted this year and really looked at everything that impressed me. Like I said earlier, back to the beginning of the show, I had a lot more stuff that disappointed me than anything this year. So I think it was kind of nice to look back to see what surprised me for the better.

Yeah. Yeah. I think there's a lot of, uh, there's a lot of opportunities out there to talk about what your favorite bourbon is or what your bourbon in 2022 is, or where you had top five rise or top five bourbons. You know, there's plenty of opportunities to talk about those things, but not a lot of people are talking about what are those, what are those few bourbons that just took me by surprise? Exactly. I think we came up with a few, so.

Yeah, I think so.

All right. Well, I'd like to give an opportunity for our listeners to, uh, to know where to find you, uh, to learn more about the mash and drum whiskey room and what you have going on. So, uh, if you take a minute and let them know a little bit more about how to get in touch with you and your, and your streams, that would be great.

Yeah, sure. Just search The Mashing Drum on YouTube. You could find the channel. Definitely subscribe and let me know what you think about some of the reviews in the comments. I always like hearing from everybody. But like I mentioned, I do about three to four videos a week. I do my live streams every Wednesday night at 9 p.m. Eastern Standard Time. We always have either great guests on. I'm doing blind tastings. I'm tasting new whiskeys. I give you the news. So there's a lot that I go through on a given Wednesday night. You can kind of stay in the loop and just kind of get my personal feelings on some of the stuff going around the whiskey world. Also, you can find me at The Mashing Drum on Instagram as well. And if you're interested in trying some of the barrel picks, you can join my Patreon. You just go to patreon.com slash The Mashing Drum and you can join for as little as three bucks and you can get some access to some great barrel picks that we have coming up. And next year, I think I'm going to maybe take the deep dive and maybe look at a possible um possible bourbon blend to come out you know for for myself so uh that's something i'm looking at doing we'll see what happens not even sure where to start with the logistics of it but i i know what profile i want i think i have a Something in mind. I think everybody will really enjoy so I'm looking forward to taking a deep dive on that or I may hate it.

We'll see what happens This is this is real blend again. This is not playing around right?

Yeah, this is this is a this would be a a a blend to market, you know bottle that I would want to actually put my name on it and now hopefully people enjoy so we'll see what happens and

That, that is so exciting. Jason, it's been a blast having you on again. We need to get you back again from time to time. You know, like I said earlier in the show, you're kind of one of those who inspired me to start the podcast in the first place. You know, I got this face for radio, so you won't find me on YouTube. You'll find me on podcasts. But nevertheless, we had some great times together in the early days, and it's nice to get back together once in a while and have an opportunity to record and put down an episode. Thank you so much for coming. We wish you all the luck in the world. Listeners, if you get a chance, check out Jason on all his social medias and on his YouTube channel. You'll love The Mashing Drum. It's an amazing stream to watch.

All right, Jason, thanks again. Thanks for having me on, Jim. It was really great catching up. And yeah, whenever you want to have me on again, just let me know.

We'll do it. You can find The Bourbon Road on all social medias. You can find us on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, YouTube. You can find us on TikTok. You can definitely find us on our private Facebook group called The Bourbon Roadies. Make sure you search us out on Facebook. You'll definitely enjoy that group. You've got to answer three questions to become a member though. Do you like bourbon? Do you agree to play nice? And are you 21? Because we don't allow anyone in there under the age of 21. We'd love to have you come in. In that group, we discuss what we're drinking. We take pictures of our bourbon. We share bourbon with each other. It's a great group of people. 3,000 strong. Come in and have a great time with us. Make sure you don't miss a show. Every single week, we'll come out with an episode. We'll have a guest on sometimes. We'll deep dive a topic. We have several expressions. One way to make sure you don't miss an episode is to go to the top of the app you're listening to us on now and hit that subscribe button. That way you get that notification every week that we've come out with a new episode and you can enjoy a new show. So we'd love to have you subscribe. We'd also love to have you leave us a review if you've listened to the show and you enjoy it, make sure you leave the Bourbon Road a review. It always helps us get into that next door, get to that next distillery, have the next guest on the show. We're very approachable. Reach out to us. You can always hit us up on email. I'm jim at the bourbonroad.com, but you can always just send an email to team at the bourbonroad.com. Brian will get a copy. I'll get a copy. Tyler will get a copy. We'd love to hear from you. We take your suggestions. We'll put them to work. We hope you enjoyed today's show. Look forward to talking to you again next week. Until then, we'll see you down the Burren Road.