329. Five New Whiskey Releases - Bourbon & Whiskeys to Watch in 2023

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. We hope our listeners will visit seldomseemaple.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. Selvam Seen Maple dot com. Support our sponsors. Support Kevin and his family there. They have a 5,000 maple tap operation in Ohio and they're doing it right. You know, they don't just produce maple syrup. They're also urban enthusiasts and we love them to death. Again, go check out Selvam Seen Maple dot com. Kevin and his staff will take care of you. All right, listeners, welcome back. My name is Jim Shannon. I'm the host of the Bourbon Road podcast. We're awful glad you decided to join us this Wednesday. We're coming to you from the Bourbon Road bar. Got Brian Hyatt, Tyler Wilson in the house today. Kind of missing the Caribbean just a little bit, Brian.

I bet you are. You've got a nice tan. I do. Looks like you had a nice relaxing time and we're able to kick back a little bit.

We were able to record with some roadies down there. It was kind of a fun episode. There's a lot of background noise. It's kind of hard to deal with, you know, the surf and the pool noise and people hooting and hollering in the background. We had a great time. I think we had a decent episode.

I thought so. It sounded great to me. It sounded like everybody had a lot of fun. It was really interesting to just learn about, you know, where people are from and kind of the culture and the drinks that, you know, their hometown and that was just really neat.

I think we got to see that, at least in that group of people, that bourbons that are finished in flavors, bourbons that are finished in whatever, beer, are really gaining popularity. And although I would say the majority of us kind of like to stick a little bit closer to the, you know, the true core bourbon products, we have to understand that there's a, there's a lot of people out there that are being introduced to bourbon through, you know, maple finished bourbons, cherry finished bourbons. The one we had, there was actually an infused bourbon infused with cherry. So, I don't know if you can even call that a bourbon. I think that's kind of a, that's a different class. That's kind of a flavored whiskey, right?

Well, I think technically, I think that's why Jack Daniels is a whiskey, not a bourbon, right?

Well, I think Jack Daniels prefers not to be called a bourbon, even though they might qualify, right? Okay, yeah. Because they'd much rather be known as a Tennessee whiskey than as a bourbon, which is more closely identified in Kentucky. So a little bit of a rivalry there.

I'd, I'd agree with that. And I think, you know, when you look at the, the cost and just the, the entry level for a lot of the, what we would call a traditional bourbon or traditional whiskey with the allocation, sometimes it's a little bit easier to get these that are finished in something that, that you wouldn't typically think so.

I think everybody's pretty much doing it now. I mean, all the big boys, they're all producing finished whiskeys, whether they be rise or bourbons or otherwise. I think nobody's, nobody's really exempt from that anymore. So let's just keep our eyes out and make sure we're listening to the masses and what they like. And for me, I just, just give me a bourbon, but every now and then there'll be that whiskey that's just finished phenomenally well. And, uh, You never know, right?

That's right.

All right, well today, we've got five whiskies to get through on this show, so we need to get busy. These are whiskies that have been provided to us by distilleries to do reviews. And we've gotten behind just a little bit because at the end of last year, we kind of put our Crafted Story Monday episodes on pause for a little bit because, well, just simply because we didn't have the manpower to handle it. And now we're getting back to where we can probably start picking up some of that again, but we've got a little bit of a backlog. So these are all whiskeys that you very well may see on a future episode, but we wanted to take an opportunity to review them. and get out some social media posts on, let some people know about them before they get to be old news, right?

Absolutely. And these, hopefully are these bottles that you can find on the shelf at your local store.

I think for the most part, they are all fairly readily available. Now, some of them won't be available in every state, but I would say you can probably find them in most States and if not online. So, but today, so first on our list are a couple of whiskeys from Kentucky Owl. And this is the Weisman series. We've got their bourbon and their rye. And first we're going to taste the bourbon and the Weisman bourbon is a blend of four bourbons. I'm pretty sure they, they source the base bourbons out of Barchtime Bourbon Company.

I believe so. And it seemed that this was a blend of a four year, a five and a half year and an eight year maybe.

Okay. And the five and a half and the eight year were Kentucky bourbons, not necessarily from Bartstown bourbon company, right? That was my understanding. And that, but the, but the base, I mean what they make their base out of it's that's Bartstown bourbon company distillate and it's aged about four years or so. And I believe it was high wheat and rye. So it was a weeded bourbon and a rye bourbon both. Well, certainly Barstown Bourbon Company and the two unnamed sources, the other two Bourbons, I would assume they're making some good stuff. So I think Dixon Deadman left Kentucky Owl last spring sometime, is that right?

That's right, back in April.

Okay. So after the Stolle group came in and purchased Kentucky Owl, Dixon eventually left. His position was filled with a new master blender.

Uh, so John Ray took over, uh, the master blender duties and he was the former chief operating officer and a Kentucky bourbon hall of Famer actually, but a chief operating officer from four roses.

Okay. Well, there's certainly some, uh, credentials behind this, I would say. What, what do you expect Brian before we've tasted it? We haven't tasted it yet. I think you snuck a nose a few.

I did, I did sneak a little nose in there. Um, I do think that we're going to have, uh, One of these, uh, probably the rise is going to be sweet. Uh, but right now we're on the bourbon. So, uh, I'm going to be interested to see what we come up with here.

Well, I would say that expectations are high. So sometimes when you're too high on your expectations, you can be a little disappointed. So, but Hey, let's just, let's just try it and let the, let the liquid speak for itself. All right. On the nose.

I get a little spice just right off.

Yeah, I'm getting, I'm getting a little bit of spice on the nose. It is a little bit of a caramel sweetness there. It's not real complex. There's nothing wrong with it. It's not putting me off in any way.

Maybe a little ethanol, but not, not overpowering. Definitely a little bit.

Yeah. I wouldn't expect too much at 90.8. So if you're getting a little bit of that, a little bit more than that, maybe not a good sign, but. Color's nice on it. I would say it's just a solid amber.

Yeah, it's nice to look at.

Let's taste it. Cheers. That has a nice initial upfront flavor to it. It is a little sweet for me.

It's definitely sweet upfront. Um, not the, not a very long finish, but it was pleasant. It's kind of a little bit dry on the back.

I was going to say a little dry, dry oak.

So this bottle is MSRP is $49 and it's widely distributed. So you can find it probably just about everywhere. I'm going to say right off the bat that this is a solid bourbon, but it's nothing. It's nothing to, uh, shout out to all your friends about, right? Just, it's just good.

I'd agree. It, it's solid. Uh, I do feel like I have a little bit of leather on the finish. Not, not near as much as we've had with some others that we've had recently, but a little bit of leather, but it's definitely dry.

Yeah, I'm getting, I'm getting like a, I'm definitely getting the dryness on the back end. I'm getting a little bit of, um, those baking spices sort of settling in on the back of my palate. I'm going to say maybe all spice, maybe just a hint of cinnamon, not too much.

What you Tyler? I would agree with some of that. The dryness for sure. I pick up some spice, a little bit of caramel. To me, it's very nice right when it hits my lips and my mouth. The finish is, I don't know, not as long as I'd like. It's a little hot. It's okay. It's not the best I've had, but it's okay.

Yeah, it's a little floral, a little sweet upfront. It kind of, kind of gives you a nice taste as it moves back towards the back of the palette, but it reaches the back. It's a little dry, kind of falls off quick. A little bit of spice back there, a little bit of baking cabinet spices. Um, I won't call it a super well-balanced whiskey, but, um, $49. It's not like you're breaking the bank.

Yeah, I'd agree with Tyler. I do think it's a little bit more hot than I would expect on the finish.

I think when you said unbalanced that I think that hits it. It's interesting. It's not. I don't know how to describe it. It's okay. It is what it is, I guess.

I think that up front and in the middle, it's pleasing. I would agree with that, yeah. But when it hits the back of the palate, it's a little confusing and maybe not, you know, that's where that imbalance is coming from. It's not a bad whiskey. It's a good whiskey. I won't say anything bad about it. I'll just say that we need to be critical so our listeners know what we're tasting. And I think for $49, you probably can't go wrong. It wouldn't be bad to have a bottle of this on your bar, but you're not going to wow your friends with it. It's just something new and something that people haven't had. And I would say it wouldn't hurt to have a bottle.

I'd agree with that. I mean, when you look at Kentucky Owl and some of the products that they've released in the past and you want to get something from Kentucky Owl, this is... Yeah, $49.

You can finally afford a bottle of Kentucky out. Like go get it. Yeah. That's a great point. And I think it's early too, you know, to let's see, let's see how this develops. It's, you know, they've had some changes with their company and I'm curious to see how it goes.

Well, I think it's important for them to have a bourbon and a rye at this price point. They have managed to establish themselves in the industry as a, you know, a premium brand and to have something in the $50 range. It's important, especially, I mean, I, I, I do believe that their Kentucky out park is still under plan to be underway in Bardstown. So it's very important for them to have, uh, whiskeys for the masses.

Yeah. And I think an entry level at $50 is, I think that's okay. I think that's a fair price point. You know, it's not the bottom shelf and it's not the top shelf either. And I think to start experiencing what they have to offer, I think that's very fair, very fair price point right there.

Okay. So Kentucky, Al, the Wiseman bourbon, 90.8 proof. The tagline on this bourbon is guided by wisdom and crafted with knowledge. The Wiseman, an American Kentucky straight bourbon whiskey. It is older than four years, at least. The youngest whiskey in this is four years old. And it has won a couple of awards. It did get a double gold in San Francisco this last year. And it was named in the 2021 Top 20 Whiskeys by Whiskey Advocate. So it has gotten some accolades. You know, I'm going to say that this is not going to be something that is going to rival, you know, the, the hiring Kentucky owl products. This is not meant to, this is an entry level bourbon for them. Priced a little bit higher than an entry level bourbon, but $50. And my suggestion is give it a try at a bar. If you like it, it certainly has a good story behind it. Grab a bottle for yourself. We said we move on to that rye whiskey. Let's do it. Yeah. All right.

All right. Up next, we have the, uh, Kentucky owl, the Weisman rye. This is a 95% rye mash bill. The MSRP is 49.99. Okay.

So it's the same as a bourbon. Yeah.

Same as the bourbon. And the proof is a hundred point eight, uh, as opposed to the, the bourbon being 90.8. Okay.

So 10, 10 proof points higher. Well, I like a hundred proof riot. I'm kind of looking forward to this one. You said you thought it would be a little sweet. I tend to, I tend to agree with you because those 95 rise tend to be a little bit candy like.

Oh yeah. I'm excited. I like the sweet rise.

All right. Well, let's check it out. Oh, it's a little herbal, but it does have that nice rye spice nose. It is a little sweet, but I'm getting, getting a red grassy herbal.

Yeah, definitely grassy.

And I pick up some sweet, sweet rye, just not very sweet, but you know, some hints of it. Maybe a little honey.

Yeah. 10 proof points higher and it doesn't have the ethanol that we found in the bourbon, does it?

It really doesn't. No, it does not. I really like, I'm not a big rye person, but I do like the nose on this one versus the bourbon.

Yeah, this does have a good nose to it. I like it. All right, well let's taste it guys. Cheers. Cheers. Wow, that is sweet up front. But it gives you a little bit of sizzle, doesn't it? They get a little spice sizzle on it.

Definitely. Uh, definitely the spice sizzle for sure.

Now going back, it does have that kind of creamy mouth coating effect a little bit more than what we got from the bourbon. I would say overall, my first impression of the rye is, um, that it's a little superior to the bourbon.

I'd agree with that. And I'm definitely, uh, I've got some raisin on the palate.

Now it hasn't quite reached that candy-like point that ryes get to yet, but you know what? This is a younger rye. This, this is a four year rye. It hasn't quite reached that, you know, that's that point where it starts to really pick up those, uh, those candy sweetness notes, that syrupy sweetness, but you can see it's going to get there.

Oh, I'd agree with that, but you know, and it backing up just a second, the, uh, it's a, it's a very light color.

It has a little bit of a different hue to it than the bourbon did. I'm, I'm kind of liking this one.

Tyler, what about you? I do prefer this one to the bourbon. I think it has a more pleasant just overall mouth feel to it. It does have a nicer nose. The finish to me is not as hot. It's more subtle, but it does have the nice spice to it. I wouldn't say smooth, but it's more almost flavorful or floral or I don't know. Maybe that's the earthiness of the rye coming out.

Yeah, I'm getting that. So it's not super dry on the back like the bourbon was. It's a little bit more mouth coating. Some of that sweetness carries back in the palate. I mentioned that grassy, that sort of green note that it's got up front. It's not a bad thing. It's actually, I'm enjoying it. That grassy note can sometimes be off putting. In this case, I don't think it is because it kind of matches this rye a little bit. In the back though, I am getting that, you called it an earthy note, kind of a dry pine needles, you know, the kind of the brown ones that gather at the bottom of the pine tree, you know, that had been sitting there and mulching for a little while, you know, so it's kind of that earthy pine finish. It doesn't have a heavy like piney finish on it, but just a little bit of a hint, kind of an earthy one. I like that.

Touch of brown sugar. Uh, Devin, you know, obviously there's cinnamon there, but I do have a little bit of brown sugar on it.

I'm getting a little bit of a nice kind of a licorice note to it. Not too much, but the more I sip on it, it kind of evolves a little bit. I would say that this right probably as, um, has a few more layers than the bourbon din. And, uh, personally, no. So I'm kind of a right person. Ries are my thing. You, Tyler, you're more of a bourbon guy. You kind of gravitate more towards weeded bourbons, right? Sweeter bourbons upfront.

Sweeter bourbons. Yeah. Or more, not necessarily the higher rye, um, mash bills. I mean, there are some like the smoke wagons that do have the higher rye mash bills that I do like, but typically, no, nothing more than 10 to 12% of the rye mash bill.

Okay. Well, this one's also, you said $49 as well. $50, let's call it $50. So they're priced the same as the bourbon. I'm definitely going to have one of these on my bar. Now we've had some pretty spectacular rise in 2022 and I would imagine we're still going to get some spectacular rises. Is this one of those? Uh, no, I don't think it's a spectacular ride, but it is a good solid example of a 95 right. It's coming from a company that does rise very well. So I would say to keep your eye on this thing and, and definitely, I mean, I'm going to pick up a bottle of it. Well, I have a bottle, but I'm going to pick up another bottle.

I have a bottle on my bar as well. I mean, this will be a great one to share, have some people over and introduce them to it.

And you know, for a hundred dollars, you can get the set of two. You can get both the bourbon and the rye. And I don't want to say anything bad about the bourbon. I think it was, it was okay. It just wasn't anything phenomenal for me, but having the set is not a bad thing. A hundred bucks. I mean, in today's bourbon world, spending a hundred dollars is not a bad day. I hate to say that. I sound kind of like weird, but.

I mean, you can get a lot less of not as great bourbon or not as great rye for more than a hundred dollars in today's world. I like the combination because then you have, if you have rye drinkers or if you have bourbon drinkers, well, you have one of each.

Yeah. Speaking of money, you know, what would be a fun show? And this is off topic, but what the heck? We're going to be drinking through five whiskeys today. We might as well talk about some other things as well. One of the things I'd like to do is just take, for example, take $500. And the three of us go shopping, shopping for allocated or hard to get bourbons, whiskeys, rye, whatever they might be, and bring them back and say, this is what we got for $500. Let's do a show on it. Let's do it. That sounds great. That sounds fun.

Doesn't that sound fun? Yeah.

We could even do it with $100 we wanted to, but the level of quality would go down just a little bit, I think. Right, right.

No, that would be awesome. Yeah. It's a lot of fun.

That'd be just an idea for a show, guys. All right. So what do I see here? Thumbs ups for the rye?

I like the rye. I'm not big on it, but you know what? From somebody that doesn't love From someone that doesn't drink a lot of rye, I think this is a solid rye whiskey.

You've set a challenge for me. I want to work on you. You're going to be a rye lover.

I'd agree. Thumbs up for me. I like the rye. Definitely want it on my bar. Definitely want to share it with folks. The bourbon, not bad. Just the rye is just a little better.

Yeah. Underwhelming is probably a good word, right? I mean, for the bourbon. I think it was good. I mean, you could pour that for anybody and they would sit there and sip on it and say, this is fine. There's nothing wrong with it, right? But we're evaluating these things for other people to be able to make a decision. So we got to be fair about it. All right. Well, I think it's time for us to move on. We have three more whiskeys to get through on this episode. We'll try to do one more in the first half and then we'll take a break. So what do we have next?

We have got the 15 stars fine aged bourbon. This is actually a seven year and 15 year blend. It is a hundred and seven proof from an undisclosed mash bill, undisclosed distillery, but it is out of 15 stars. A new company out of Rick and Ricky Johnson just started this up.

Okay, so what they do tell us, they don't tell us what the match bill is, they don't tell us what distilleries the whiskeys come from, except that they do come from Kentucky. So this is obviously sourced, but they do have seven year and 15 year blend. So two whiskeys, seven and 15. I like those numbers. Yeah, yeah.

But 15 stars, what's that stand for? So the 15 stars commemorates, or I guess it stands for the 15th state being Kentucky. So Kentucky is the 15th state of the United States, and the 15 stars commemorates Kentucky, but also the Bourbon history within Kentucky.

Oh, that's pretty cool. I got a friend, he's been on the show, Rob Carter. You guys remember Rob, right? He collects American flags. What he wouldn't give, to have a 1795 Kentucky flag with 15 stars and 15 stripes. Wow. I bet there's only a few of those in existence. What do you think?

There probably wouldn't be many. It's definitely super cool.

So Tyler, you have already had this whiskey. You've already done a review of it. You posted it on Instagram. This has been a few weeks back. This is the first chance that Brian and I have had to really dive into this whiskey. So why don't you walk us through it?

Sure. So to me, this whiskey is just a very nice overall. It's a kind of nice kind of amber, darker amber kind of color. Nice legs around the glass as you kind of move it around. The nose is very pleasant. You get some cherry, some vanilla, some caramel. It's not overwhelming, but to me it just kind of, it just brings a nice kind of excitement of what you're getting ready to drink.

Brian, have you had it to your nose yet? Oh yeah, I'm looking over. You've got it to your nose.

I've got it to my nose right now. And it's, uh, it's got a very nice nose to it. Very pleasant.

You know, the first thing I noticed is that, is that nice waft of caramel and cherry mixture, like the two been mixed together kind of a, Caramel covered cherry.

Yeah. It almost smells like roses or flowers to me.

It's just a little floral. It's got a nice aroma to it. Now what was the proof on this? 107. 107. So it's pretty substantial in proof. It's got some great age behind it. The oak is there on the nose. I mean, it's almost like a little bit of like an old Rick house smell to it, right?

And it's not like in your face up front, but it does kind of hit you right at the end. And more as you kind of move it around the glass, it opens up to smoke.

We don't know these guys, right? I mean, nobody really knows Rick and Ricky at all. And they just sort of come out with this. Wow.

Yeah. I was reading, uh, I guess Rick, uh, our entrepreneur and the limestone and corn industries. And I don't know how connected he is to bourbon, but I'm going to have to find out now. All right.

That's our mission. We want to talk to these guys. I haven't tasted it yet, but the nose has got me intrigued. All right. Let's check it out. Cheers. Oh my. That's really good.

Yeah. Yeah.

Super nutty man. Cherries are there. Cherries are on the nose. Cherries are on the palate up front. Cherries are on the finish. It's not a cherry bomb, but cherries are everywhere.

I'd agree with that. And I think that the nutty flavor is there. So it takes me back to when I was growing up, my dad would have this bowl and he would have the nutcracker and I would always still go in there and still the nuts and crack them. I get a lot of nuts on this.

Yeah. Yeah. It's very nutty. It's very, um, it's very like deep, rich, fruity kind of cherry fruity. I'm not getting like cocoa nibs. You know, I was kind of hoping for that, but I do get like a hint of cocoa.

Yeah, yeah. I get a lot of the spice, definitely the nuttiness, the oak is there, the cherry. I mean, I think you got to pick up the cherries. A little bit of caramel. The finish to me is very pleasant and some spicy, but no, I don't pick up the cocoa flavors or anything like that. It's not to say that you might not, but

I was hoping for the cocoa. I didn't get as much, but I do think it's a nice finish. I think it's, it's very solid.

This is a medium to long finish on 107 proof whiskey, seven to 15 year old bourbons in it. I'd love to know where they got their barrels, but I'm feeling like this has got a little bit of a heaven hill in it, but you know, that's just a guess. It's just kind of a guess.

I get a little bit of that. I got a little bit of that. Um, you know, the, the, just the toast alone brings me to that heaven hill. Like kind of toast that, that Elijah Craig toasted kind of char. Yeah. Yeah. I picked that up.

Definitely the toasted Oak and, and, uh, I don't know. I mean, it's. I feel like I want to say leather every time I speak, but, but I do have leather on this one again.

Yeah, it does have that, um, that well-aged kind of flavor to it. You know, you call it a Rick house flavor or leather flavor, not so much tobacco, but kind of like the, the old workshop kind of, uh, a little bit of mustiness to it. But the cherry just, man, the cherry just takes over on the back end. Surprisingly, you know, I just, I like it.

This is one of the, I mean, you know, we're early into the year here, but this is one of the best ones I've drank in, in 2023. I'm a big fan of the, the, the flavor, the, just the mouthfeel of it, the palette and the finish that this is right at my, my whiskey wheelhouse.

What's the MSRP on this one?

So this bottle is $139.99, so right at $140 MSRP. So it's not a low end price or even medium or entry level. This is a higher end price whiskey, but I think it does live up to the higher end value.

So when I just mentioned a moment ago, and I'm going to be straight up honest about this, when I mentioned this a moment ago, that this is a premium whiskey. I had no clue what the price was, but it is a premium whiskey at a premium price, right? But I'm going to step out on a limb here and say that it's good enough to warrant that price. This is some good whiskey. And you know, if you get over $150, you got to be making me see stars. I mean, it's got to be something phenomenal. This is solid, solid sub 150 whiskey. I feel like it.

I agree with that. This is a extremely, I don't know if complex is the right word, but it's a very solid, well-balanced whiskey. The nose palate finish just across the board to me. This is a great, this is just a great whiskey at a great price.

I think so. This would go good with any strong pairing of food. For example, a steak or a prime rib. It could go well with a heavy dark chocolate. It definitely would pair well with cigar, something a little bit stronger, something with a little bit of an aftertaste to it. I think it's a good choice. I really think we need to have a talk with these guys and say, what's the plan here? What do you guys got going on? Because their first expression that they've introduced, 15 stars for the 15th State of the Union, I think is, uh, is damn good.

Yes. Agreed a hundred percent. I I'm very excited to see what else they're working on because if, if this is, you know, some of their early stuff, then I'm really excited to see what what's in the future for them.

Yeah. All right. Well guys, we're going to take a short break. We're going to sit here and sip on our 15 star Kentucky straight bourbon whiskey. And, uh, when we come back, we've got two more great whiskey. Folks, we definitely encourage you to check out seldomseenmaple.com. That's Seldom Seen Farms. Kevin and his staff there 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.com. Get yourself. All right, so we're back. I mean, that break was something else. We all had pretty good pour, that 15 star that we had to, well, I shouldn't say we had to, we got to finish off. That was delightful, really good. And I understand they have a number of expressions that are available and hopefully we're going to be able to sit down and talk with these folks in the future. And I think our listeners will be interested to know a little bit more about what they're doing. But anyway, they're out of Bartstown, right?

Yes. Yeah. Uh, Ricky and Rick, the father, son duo, and they're just getting started and I'm really excited to see where they finish. All right.

So we've got two more whiskies to get through in this show. And, uh, first up is something from old elk, our friends at old elk. And, uh, you know, this is something that they introduced in 2021. And we didn't get a chance to taste it, but this is their second release, 2022 release. And Tyler, why don't you tell us a little bit about it?

So this 2022 Infinity blend is actually a blend of five different whiskies. The base is built off of that 2021 Infinity, but then it's also 52% an Old Elk straight wheat whiskey. So, uh, about 70% combined between the, uh, you know, the baseline of last year plus their wheat whiskey. And then you've got a 15% straight bourbon whiskey from Ole Elk and then a blend between the other two of a 12 year and 13 year.

Okay. So let me break this down. Well, let me try to not break it down, but try to gather my thoughts a little bit. So last year they had an affinity release. They saved back enough of it. That this year's release is 18% of the last year's release. That's cool. That is kind of the essence of an infinity bottle, right? And then they bring two more of their whiskies in this year, seven year whiskies, right? Correct. And then they bring it up to about 70% of this year's release is made up of old elk whiskies, things that they make. And then they bring in a couple of Kentucky whiskies, uh, that are a little bit elder, a 12 year and a 13 year Kentucky straight bourbon whiskey to make up that last 30%. Wow. There's a lot going on here.

Yeah, there is. Uh, you know, so it's, um, I'm kind of curious to see how it all kind of blends together.

Well, we'd like to thank old elk for sent us a sample. We didn't get, uh, try their 2021 infinity release. So I'm pretty excited to try the 2022. It sounds like, uh, well, it sounds like they were planning ahead to say back 18%, you know, at least to get some of that into this year. And I can't imagine three, four or five years down the road, there's going to be all kinds of stuff going on in there.

Yeah, I guess that'll kind of, you know, I don't know if next year's release will have the initial release and the second year's release. Well, it will because it will be part of the second. Okay, yeah, so by default, yeah.

Yeah, so the whole idea behind Infinity Bottle, and we do a show every year, and I think we'll probably do an Infinity Bottle show this year too, is that when your whiskey bottles at your bar get down to about an inch or so in the bottom, they hazard being oxidized because of the total amount of oxygen in the bottle versus the liquid is so high, it's better to get them in a bottle that's more liquid. So take your almost empty bottles and combine them into your decanter and fill it up. And only put whiskeys in there you like, don't put whiskeys in there you don't like, that's a key. And you'll be amazed at what you end up with.

Oh, yes. And there's some really cool, you know, the old Fitzgerald makes really cool infinity bottles, just in general, you know, using a old Fitzgerald bottle, or, you know, the decanters as an affinity bottle, or even you've got the will it pot still bottles, those make really cool infinity bottles.

or the bourbon road decanter, right?

Which you can get on our website.

Even better.

I need to go ahead and shift mine over to the bourbon road decanter. I've got one that I'm very proud of that I can't wait for you guys to taste.

Yeah, so when it comes to infinity bottles, I like to be very careful only to add whiskeys that I like. I don't add whisky to it until it gets down to about a quarter full. And then I won't drink from it until I fill it back up to three quarters full. So it kind of always rotates between a quarter and three quarters. And that's my deal. There's a number of ways and we'll have a great show about this sometime this year. So I'm excited. Yeah.

All right.

So tell us about this one, Tyler.

Hmm. Right off the nose. I mean. Oh, it's very pleasant. I get it. I get the, uh, I don't know. I don't know if it's a, I'm picking up some vanilla there or if I'm, or even I kind of think back to the, the last, uh, to that rye we had, picking up a little bit of that, uh, earthiness almost right off the nose.

Yeah. It's a little buttery. It's kind of got that, that acetyl note to it. I like that.

Butterscotch.

Yeah, butterscotch. But for me, a little more butter than butterscotch, a little bit more hot butter popcorn than, than butterscotch, but definitely, uh, a nice, gentle warming nose, not, it doesn't jut out too much. Doesn't like, there's no sharpness to it.

I'd agree with that. Definitely not a lot of sharpness to it.

And this one is a 114.1 proof at the nose. I don't. It doesn't come off that way, at least to me.

Can you do me a favor? Can you go over the components that make this one more time? Just kind of quickly go through them again. Sure.

So this 2022 Old Elk Infinity blend is a blend of five different whiskeys. We've got the base of the 18% from the Old Elk 2021 blend. And then you've got a 52% of Old Elk straight wheat whisky. You've got another 15 percent of the old elk straight bourbon whiskey. So those are both seven years. So we've got 85 percent that make up an old elk. And then we've got 15 percent sourced. You've got a 12 year and a 13 year Kentucky straight bourbon whiskey. So they're very careful about this. So really, the vast majority of this whiskey is their weeded bourbon. Yes, over 50 percent, 52 percent is weeded bourbon. Yeah.

Well, that, that kind of explains the, the sweet upfront note that you're getting. Well, let's taste it. What do you guys think? Cheers. Cheers.

Definitely, buddy. Right up front.

Yeah, very much so.

More Oak for me than, than what we've had so far today.

Brian, there's your raisins. Kind of take some, take, you know, there's two different kinds of raisins. You got the, like the dark raisins and you got the, the white raisins. Right. Right. Take those white raisins and put them in a little bit of a butter and sizzle them in a skillet.

So Brian, to answer your question earlier, the old oak straight wheat whiskey is actually a 95% winter wheat and then a 5% malted barley.

Oh, that's a wheat whiskey.

Oh yes. So when we're at 52% of that being in the infinity blend, I think that's where we really are picking up a lot of that wheat there.

Well, I would expect it to be a little softer up front, but it's not overly soft. It's got a little bit of a bite up front. But that butteriness, that richness that's coming from like, like that fruit that's been like.

Like, I don't know, student butter or whatever. I mean, it's just, it's really nice. I don't know if that's the sweetness that I'm picking up of like almost like a corn sweetness. Um, but yeah, I agree. It's, it's, it's so smooth, right? When it hits my mouth and it's got a really nice, pleasant, uh, you know, viscous kind of, not, not, not quite as viscous, but very smooth mouth fill.

I like it. I have to say that the folks at Old Out, thank you very much for sending us a sample. But boy, I wish you'd have sent a seven 50.

This is really good.

There's something there on the finish that I can't quite pick up.

That's what I'm trying to figure out. There's something.

It's a, it's a, it's a nice long finish and it's got a pleasant aftertaste to it, but it's something almost, I don't know if it's the raisins or the dates or maybe the dryness of that, but something on the the in there.

And this is a really good whiskey. This is a thinker. You know, it definitely makes you think because the notes that I'm getting on it aren't like readily apparent what they are. And you're searching for that memory, that, that, that flavor memory that you have and nothing's quite matching it. It's just, it's kind of a mashup a little bit, right?

It is. I wonder if that's because of the blend of so many different whiskies and mash bills and profiles that it's almost not confusing, but there's just so much going on.

I feel like you could sit and taste it. You could come up with a lot of different, uh, flavors, you know, tasting notes. You could come up with different things on the, the palette, the finish each time you go back to it. Um, I mean, there is a lot going on with it, but it's very good.

So the MSRP on this one's 150. How do you think that compares to the 15 stars, you know, just comparatively?

Yeah, that's a good question. They're both really good whiskies. They're both fine whiskies. And I think that this one stands on its own as something altogether different from the 15 star. Uh, this is a little more crafted. This is a little bit more, um, it's got, it's got more of a story behind it, you know, as far as the infinity blend goes. I think, you know, Greg Metz has got a tremendous background. He certainly started at MGP. Well, I don't know if he started there, but he finished at MGP. made quite a name for himself in the industry and then moved on to old out. There's a tremendous amount of skill there and knowledge in whiskey. His ability to, uh, both distill quality whiskeys and blend them is phenomenal. To be able to craft something like this that has that mouth feel, that initial upfront flavor, the back end, all the notes that we're picking up, I don't want to compare it. to the 15 stars day one's better than the other. They both have their own stories, but I will say that they're both at the same level. They're kind of both at that very finely crafted whiskey level, that premium whiskey level. They both can command a higher price. 15 star was $130 more or less. Right at 140. And this is right at 150. Yep. Yeah. I'm not going to argue with either one. You know, I think I said earlier in the episode that if something's going to go over 150, I got to see stars. This is pretty damn good.

It is. It's in the complexity. I think it's nice. It's, it's not something that like Brian said, you can settle on it and you can sip on it and you can pick up these notes. And when you have these, I don't, I wouldn't say lower quality whiskeys. You just can't, they, they just don't have the complexity that these that have, they don't have the notes. They don't have the, the, you know, the, all the things that these master blenders do. And when you look at old elk, I think this is, this is truly a premium bourbon.

Yeah. Yeah. This is good stuff. I think they did a fine job. Um, I look forward to seeing your, uh, your post on this particular one and the review that you put together. I think, I think we're all pretty much in agreement, but, uh, our notes are a little different.

I agree. I mean, the more I sip on it now I'm on crème brûlée.

Crème brûlée. That's always a good note, right? Very good note. All right. Well, congratulations old elk on a fine expression. I love the infinity bottle idea. You have taken it to the next level with your infinity blend and we thank you for it. We appreciate you sending it to us and we hope you continue this for many years to come. It's a, it's a great expression and I hope a lot of our listeners get a chance to try it. So what is next on our list?

All right. Up next, we have the larceny barrel proof. A one, two, three. It is 125.8 proof.

So this is the larceny barrel proof. It's almost like you were getting ready to say ABC one, two, three.

That's right. This one, we're definitely stepping up a notch and proof. So, uh, we should definitely, definitely have a little more heat here.

So a one, two, three. So a means the first release of the year. One means January and two, three is 2023. So this is the first release of 2023 released in January of 2023.

Yeah, and honestly, I don't even know if this is even out in stores yet.

It may not be. We just received a sample from Heaven Hill within the last week or so, and it may not have released yet. But obviously, it's soon to come. If it hasn't, it should be available pretty quick. Cheers listeners. You get a first first glimpse at this one. They did send us a sample size bottle. We didn't get a full size bottle. Darn it. But that's okay. We're happy to have it. Thank you, Heaven Hill for sending us a sample, but we'll judge it fairly. What was the proof again? This was a, I believe this one was over 125. 125.8. Wow. There you go. So I think. If I remember correctly, I think Tyler, you were telling us that the last release of 2022 was pretty phenomenal.

Oh yes. The C nine 22 is, uh, one of the best releases of the entire year. So this, uh, a one 23 has got a lot to live up to.

Yeah. All right. Well, I think we should probably Brian, we should probably check this out.

Let's do it. Let's do it. It's going to be good. Cheers.

Cheers. Wow. It's got a little bit of bite on the nose there.

Is this the highest proof whiskey you've had tonight? This is the highest proof one we've had tonight. That last one was right around 114. So we're up about 10 more or 11 more actually with this one.

Yeah. So as you know, that listeners keep that mouth open just a little bit. It's, it's, it's important to allow the aromas to enter the nose, but it's also important to keep that mouth open so that you don't burn out your nose hairs.

And this one's coming in hot. Yeah, it is hot. But the flavor, I mean, man, and I, you know, personally, I'm a barrel proof guy. I like the higher proofs. They are hotter, but a lot of them bring a lot more flavor with them. And this one to me is, I don't know how it compares to the C922, haven't had it, but this is very nice.

Well, we might have to get a little bit of that C922. I'm sure with our contacts, we could probably get a little bit of it, right? At least a sample bottle, right? All right. Well, I'm anxious to taste it. What do you say we hit it up? All right. Here we go. Cheers. Cheers. Okay. So of everything we've had tonight, that one hit the pallet like a, like a baseball bat to the head. There's a lot of flavor there.

There is a lot of flavor and it's not an, it's not an overwhelmingly strong finish, but it lingers and I keep, you know, as I swallow, I keep tasting it and it's nice. I'm picking up a little bit of oak, a little bit of caramel, not overwhelming, but I do pick up a little bit.

They didn't give away any secrets in their letter to us, did they?

They, they really didn't. Um, this is a six to eight year mash bill, 68% corn, 20% wheat, 12% malted barley. And the MSRP is 59.99.

No, that's a bargain and you can find it. Right. I mean, it's out there and, and it's not all together. I wouldn't say it's not difficult. Of course it's difficult, but it's not impossible to put your hands on a bottle of larceny barrel proof.

That's right.

It's not. I, um, I was actually in a store a couple of weeks ago and I saw both the larceny and Elijah Craig barrel proof on the shelf. I wanted to buy both. I didn't. I went with the, uh, the Elijah Craig. Um, but you know, if, if, if I hadn't, uh, another option, say I went in there today, I'd probably pick up the larceny as well.

Now, Tyler, I have to tell you, there was a time not so long ago, Maybe a year, a year and a half, two years ago where you wouldn't find them on the shelf. You absolutely wouldn't. So just the fact that you can walk into a store and see them in the wild.

It's a good sign. It is, and it is not an everyday thing. Just to, you know, to be clear, uh, it's definitely something that I have, I have been on the lookout for. I know it's allocated. You're not going to see it on the shelf every time. And it probably did sell out that day or the next day, but it is nice to actually see them in the wild. Yeah.

So let's dive into this a little bit. Personally, I'm getting a little bit of, um, kind of like a date fig raisin plum, you know, kind of that dark, sweet, dense fruit flavor out of it.

I'd agree with that. It's definitely, uh, definitely more dense than what we've had so far. Uh, I'm going to go back and say it again. I mean, leather tobacco on the finish. Not probably a little bit more present this time for me on the tobacco end.

Is it, is it a little bit of a sizzler? Is it kind of sizzling on your palate?

It's definitely sizzling for sure. But that, you know, like I've said over and over that that's in my wheelhouse. I like, I like that sizzle.

Now this is a weeded bourbon, right? So how does this time, how does this differ from like an Elijah Craig barrel proof?

So the Elijah Craig, um, you're going to get more of the rye. You're going to get more of the, uh, I don't know if they even have any wheat at all, right? It says, uh, rye and barley. Yeah, it's pretty straightforward. Um, so I'm looking at the mash bill of this one. It's 68% corn, 20% wheat, 12% marked, malted barley. Yeah. Um, so 20% wheat there, you know, it's pretty high as far as, you know, the mash bill is concerned. Whereas when you look at something like an Elijah Craig barrel proof, you're looking at more of like a 12% rye and another 10% barley somewhere in there. I'd have to look it up. The other big difference between something like the Elijah Craig barrel proof and the larceny is the year. Um, typically the Elijah Craig or 12 year, whereas this one's more of a six to eight year. Yeah.

Yeah. The Elijah crags are a little bit more, uh, well aged, a little bit deeper, more complex, uh, darker, a little bit darker, but this is, this is really good. This is really good. I haven't had the nine, but you said that 21, which was what the, what was the release of it?

The C nine 22, just the last release actually. Yeah.

I say, well, I'll, I'll say for me, as far as larceny goes, this is definitely, uh, my favorite larceny release. I like this one more than the others that I've had.

Yeah. So my, my, my chest is like, um, I'm, you know, we talk about the Kentucky hug. This is like a anaconda. It's like, got me in a rap. It's like really. It's really got a lot of, uh, hot fetish on it for me.

Same, same. It's, uh, it, it's not hiding the proof. It's, it's certainly there. Um, you know, I think, I don't know if it's more of the, the, the wheat finish that it hits just hits me harder, but comparatively to the, you know, like an Elijah Craig barrel, but if I do feel it's more, I don't know, hotter.

Yeah, a lot of times you talk about a weeded bourbon being soft up front. This is soft up front for like a microsecond and then it hits the back of your palate and it's like, oh wow. That is a, that's a home run, right?

The finish to me is incredible. It's just, it hits you and it's kind of, it's not overwhelming, but it's just like, it kind of just stays there and it doesn't go away and it kind of builds almost. Now, Breaking Bourbon rated the C922 is their number one bourbon of the year. And Breaking Bourbon's got a pretty good handle on bourbon reviews to be honest with you.

Yeah. I, you know, I tend to, I tend to default to breaking bourbon a lot of times. If I'm at the liquor store and I'm looking for something, I'll, I'll check out what they had to say about it. I'd like to hope that someday we get to that point, but those guys have been doing it a long time and they're very good at what they do. I'm going to say that, um, Elijah Craig Barrelproof watch out. This particular Roshni release is pretty powerful. It's got a lot going on. It's not as layered as something 12 year old, but it definitely has a serious impact on the palette. It's something you want to keep your eye on.

I'd agree a hundred percent. And this is, I'm an Elijah Craig Borough Pro fan boy. I mean, that's my jam, man. And this is the same price point. I'm going to pick it up for sure. Yeah. Awesome.

I think this will definitely be on all three of our bars. We'll be looking forward to sharing this with everybody that comes through. This is a good one.

Well, I wish, I wish I could tell listeners what the exact release date was, but it is a January release and we're, we're kind of looking at the, we're right around the middle of January right now. So it's definitely going to happen soon. Keep your eyes out for it. When it hits the shelves, I'm going to say go and buy. What about you, Brian?

I agree a hundred percent. This is definitely going by for sure.

If I see it, I'm buying it. Me too. For sure. Especially since we only got like a 200 mil sample, right?

Yes, especially. And I mean, I think it's very young too. If they continue to use the, the six to eight years and if they can make them taste like this, then I'm really excited to see what happens in four or five years. Some of those barrels.

There will be two more releases this year.

Yes, there'll be a, a one in April or May, I guess, and September.

Yeah. We're going to be looking at May and September for the next two releases this year.

Well, I tell you what, if you can get your hands on that nine 22, I think I'd like to try it since it was raised so high, but this is good.

Yeah. Yeah. And honestly, now I think about it. Like I, I bought the Elijah Craig nine 22 and I could have bought the larceny nine 22, but. There'll be another day.

Well, you have to, you have to make your choices and you have to respect your wall a little bit. You don't want to spend all your money on one day in the bourbon store. I've done that and it's, it's not good when you get home. She, she usually has something to say about it.

We try to avoid those conversations.

Absolutely. All right, guys. Well, it's been, it's been a great episode. We've had five really interesting whiskies. Um, I think we've rated them fairly and told our listeners, you know, what to expect and they can make their own decisions from that point forward. It's been a blast, Tyler. Thank you so much for hanging out with us in the burden road bar this afternoon, Brian. It's always a pleasure.

Yeah. Thank you so much. And it's great to be back in Bourbon road bar. I feel like we had a little break there while everybody was traveling. So we were doing things remotely a little bit, but it's great to be back.

Yeah. It's a blast. So Brian, where can everybody find us on social media?

You can find us on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, YouTube, and even TikTok. You can also join us for daily discussion on the private Facebook group, The Bourbon Roadies. We will ask you three very simple questions. Are you 21? Do you like bourbon? And do you agree to play nice?

Cause we don't take any rudeness in there, right? If you try to chop somebody off at the knees for what they're drinking, I'm going to say Tyler is going to cut you off and kick you out of the group. It won't last too long. Just respect your fellow bourbon drinkers. You know, not everybody has to drink the top shelf stuff. Some people believe it or not, like old crow.

I don't understand it.

Maybe you don't understand it, but you know what? That's their jam. And you know, let them do what they do. It's always your bourbon, your way.

That's right. And I'll say one other thing, Jim, we also do not tolerate people trying to sell bottles.

That's right. Don't come to the bourbon roadies group and attempt to sell bottles. We just, if you want to give a sample away to another roadie, man, we're all for that. You know, if you've got, if you've managed to come across a pretty decent bottle, You went down to the heaven hill distillery down in barstown and managed to get your hands on one of their really good, uh, releases and pour a few samples, share them out to your friends. That's a great way to go. Don't sell it. Not on our group. Uh, it just won't, just won't work. You just won't last very long. Well, we'd love to have you come and join us, join the bourbon roadies. One of the great benefits of being a bourbon roadie is when we have an event, when we have a gathering, when we're out in town and, uh, we, we'd love to set up a bourbon roadie bar and all the whiskies that we've had on the show throughout the year are always available on the bourbon roadie bar and everybody can drink freely. So it was a lot of fun. You know, we can't possibly drink all the whiskeys that the distillery sent us in a year. So what better way to get rid of them than to share them with our very good friends? All right. We do one episode every single week. Every Wednesday we do an episode. Sometimes it's just us hanging out, drinking through a number of expressions, having a great time. Sometimes we'll have country music artists on sometimes a master distiller. Sometimes we'll have an author on it's always, we try to mix it up just a little bit. Don't we Brian?

We do. Absolutely.

So make sure you check us out every single week. One way you can be sure not to miss an episode of the Bourbon Road is to go into that app you're listening to us on, scroll up to the top, find that button that says subscribe or follow or. Join or whatever it might be. Everybody does it different. Make sure you follow us, join us, subscribe to us. So when we release a new episode, you will get a message, a notification, a bell, something telling you that the guys at the bourbon road to put out a new episode. You can listen to us every single week. We love to have you. We love our listeners. Uh, we're always trying to put out new and crazy, great stuff. If you've got an idea for an episode, if you've got a small distillery in your hometown that's doing it right, that's making something great, make sure you reach out to us. You can always go to our website, TheBurbanRoad.com. You can jump on there. We've got a contact us page. Send us a message. We'll make sure it happens. You can always send us an email. Tyler, Brian, myself. We're always monitoring team at the bourbonroad.com. That's our combined email address. Send us an email. Let us know what you're thinking. We will definitely be responsive and get back with you. We hope you've enjoyed this show. We hope you enjoyed listening to another episode of The Bourbon Road. Join us next time. Until then, we'll see you down. The Bourbon Road. The Bourbon Road.

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