333. R6 Bourbon and Rye Whiskey Re-Review

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 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 SeldomSeenMaple.com and check out all they have to offer. A lot of great gifts there. Bourbon aged maple syrup. bourbon barrel aged coffee, Rick house reserved barbecue sauce. You can buy it by the bottle. You can buy it by the case. You can even get bourbon maple candle and they even have maple cotton candy. Definitely, definitely check out seldom seen maple dot com. Support our sponsor. Support Kevin and his family there. They have a five thousand maple tap operation. you know, Ohio, and they're doing it right. You know, they don't just produce maple syrup. They're also bourbon enthusiasts, and we love them to death. Again, go check out Selvamseenmaple.com. Kevin and his staff will take care of you. Hello listeners and welcome back to another episode of the Bourbon Road Podcast. I'm your host, Jim Shannon. With me in the studio tonight is Brian Hyatt, our co-host. Brian, how you doing tonight? Doing great. It's a beautiful, beautiful night. I mean, the temperature today kind of perked up a little bit. We got in the sixties. I'm kind of feeling it. Getting ready for that three week road trip into the southern states to hit a few distilleries. I'm excited about that, but I'm just as excited to get out of the cold weather. And today was a nice glimpse of what it can be. Right.

That's right. And I believe tomorrow is going to be even more beautiful. And then you're going to get a nice, nice taste of cold weather right before you leave.

Well, just need to grab you a bottle of a high proof rye and kick back and just enjoy the inside. Right. That's right. Yeah. So today on the show, we're actually having a couple of whiskies. This is going to be more in the kind of the theme of a, of our old craft distillery Monday episodes. We're going to actually do two whiskies tonight, both in the same distillery. And this is kind of a review and it's a, I would say it's more of a re review because we've had these whiskies on the show before. And from time to time, I just feel like it's necessary, particularly with those whiskeys that may have seemed a little youthful when you tried them the first time, to maybe revisit them and see how the brand is progressing over time and to see how things are changing. So what do we have for our drinks tonight on the show, Brian?

Yeah, so we're going to have the R6 straight bourbon. It is 86 proof and I'm excited. Those will be my first go round with it.

That's right. You haven't had this yet. Now we've had Rob Rubin's on the show. Our six is his baby. And, uh, we've, we've actually had these whiskeys and had him on the show and it was a great time. We had a wonderful time. But like I said, I think it's important for us to revisit these bottles and just see how things are progressing. And we've got both, uh, standard bourbon release and the rye release here again tonight. And I'm excited to try them again. If I remember correctly, and I'm digging deep into my memories, I remember it had some wonderful youthful notes. Nothing was off-putting. It kind of was a really solid bourbon. We're going to drink the bourbon first and then we'll visit the rye. I didn't have any negative thoughts on it. One of the things I like sometimes about youthful bourbons is, and youthful being like, this is a straight, so it's not like super young, right? I mean, it's at least a two-year bourbon. But there are some things that disappear, some flavors that go away in bourbons as they get older. Obviously, some flavors are added and some flavors are subtracted, and some of these straight bourbons are just delightful in what you get out of them. So if I remember correctly, the R6 was a delightful, youthful bourbon whiskey.

So it was your first time though. That is, it is my first time and I'm excited about this one. It's one that I've seen around, but I've just never grabbed a bottle of it. So super excited to give it a shot.

All right. Well, let's get to it and then we'll get back to talking about a little bit more about R6. The nose on it really has kind of a cinnamon waft to it. It's a little bit of like black pepper and cinnamon, but there's like a dried fruit aspect to it.

Yeah. Yeah. And it's, I would, I would say, uh, similar to what you were talking about earlier, that it is of a, it is a little bit of a more younger nose. Um, but it's pleasant.

It's, it's really kind of sweet. but it does have a nice caramel and vanilla base to it, which is what you would expect out of a bourbon. But one of the things I'm really liking from it is I'm getting kind of a citrus note, but that cinnamon black pepper is just, it's there. I'm kind of hoping that it translates to the palate cause this is all from the nose right now. And you know, I've tasted enough straight whiskeys, two-year whiskeys, to be able to tell that it's got some of those, uh, those fresh notes that you get, uh, from a younger whiskey, but it still has a nice amount of barrel influence. And the color on this is kind of a light Amber, uh, not a bad color for a two year old straight bourbon whiskey.

All right. Are you ready to give it a try here, Jim? I'm ready. Let's taste it. Cheers. All right.

Cheers.

Definitely getting the black pepper and cinnamon, but it has a really nice mid-pallet peppery taste to it. So I like the spice on it. It's sweet up front, it's spicy in the back. It's got a nice mid-pallet spice to it. But I'm getting those, those dried darker fruits, plums or raisins.

Right, right. Yeah, I definitely, I agree with that. I definitely get the spicy, maybe a little bit on the, on the side of medicinal.

Yeah, I think it does have a, just a slight medicinal note. I tend to agree with you on that. I think it's a, it's a nice kind of a easy sipping porch whiskey. I think you could go through a bottle of this pretty quick. 86 proof, straight bourbon whiskey out of Los Angeles, California, actually out of El Segundo, kind of on the South side beach side of LA. Yeah.

Yeah. If you actually, if you go to their website, you'll see a beautiful picture of, uh, of the ocean right there. So super cool.

Well, I do know that they've had some accolades on their whiskies. I know their bourbon has, has received a few awards. My understanding is that it was the, uh, uh, it was the first bourbon whiskey distilled in Los Angeles County. That's, that's something to be said. It's always great to have pioneers, uh, who are stepping out of the box and doing something new. And for the first time, I'm, I'm kind of wondering what this ride is going to be like too. What do you think, Brian, do you think for $40 that this is something our listeners should take a chance on?

Yeah. I mean, I, I definitely think $40 is worth it. Uh, I enjoy it. You know, I mean, when I'm tasting this, you know, there's definitely the, uh, there's some buttery notes to it or a buttery feeling. It's a little smooth, uh, which, which I always like.

It's young, but I mean, it has a nice little punch to it. Yeah. I think this is something that would please both somebody who likes something a little bit sweet and somebody that can take a little bit of spice because it does have that cinnamon black pepper effect on the back of the palette. Overall, I think a sessionable whiskey, a $40 bottle of whiskey like this probably wouldn't last me very long. I think it's fairly well balanced. It has a decent finish on it. Not a long finish, sort of a short to medium finish, but it's a nice one, has a good finish to it. I think if I remember back, I think that this whiskey seems to have progressed just a little bit. I think it's more refined now. Uh, not that it's aged any longer. I just think that maybe, uh, they've gotten better at what they do. The first whiskey, the first time we tried, it was really good. This is, uh, better, let's say just a little bit better. So if, if you've had the R6 bourbon in the past, I would say, try it again, give it a shot. We were really surprised. by another younger distillery, Devil's River out of Texas, who was producing a whiskey that we thought could spend a little bit more time in the barrel. It was a little young for us, but then we revisited it, and when we did, we were just blown away by it, and very well could have been our Whiskey of the Year this past year. So, always good to go back and revisit those whiskies that had a little bit more time to mature. Uh, another example would be, uh, Jephthah Creed, you know, their whiskies have come into a nice place now, uh, after kind of a rough start. So definitely give these places a try again. Brian, I'm ready to, to, to dip into this, this rye. I've kind of been looking forward to that. Have you got some poured?

Yes, I do. I'm, I'm ready to roll tonight.

All right. So we both have our glasses poured. This is the R6 straight rye whiskey. Clearly marked as never chill filtered and at 86 proof, you're always taking a chance with not chill filtering a whiskey because you can get that flocking that comes out inside the whiskey if it gets cold. But I think we're going to be safe here and I'm ready to check it out. Let's let's nose it, Brian.

Well, totally, totally different, uh, as you would expect from the, from the bourbon.

Got a nice light spice to it. It's not too strong.

Yeah, I'm not picking up a ton of ethanol or anything like that on the nose.

Well, it is a little bit lower proof, but it does have a nice sort of a breezy nose to it. When I say that it's kind of a fresh country breeze, kind of a, a little bit of a, maybe a pine forest in the distance, a little bit of, uh, Apple and a little bit of Apple. Yeah, absolutely.

Yeah. I think for me, the Apple probably stands out the most.

I'm getting a little bit of bubble gum too.

Isn't it amazing? As soon as somebody says something that they smell, you're like, yeah, I kind of get that. And I didn't have the bubble gum, but as soon as you said it, yeah, sticks out to me. Yeah.

I said bubble gum that comes out of the tops baseball card packs, you know? That's right. The good stuff.

All right. Let's check it out. Cheers.

OK, so that that's kind of a light flavor profile. It's not going to pounce on your tongue with any bold flavors. It's kind of a nice, gentle introduction to a rye. I would say. If you're a bourbon drinker or a new whiskey drinker and you haven't tried a rye yet and it's one and your, your pal or your spouse has been trying to get you to try a rye. This would be a good one to start with. Uh, it's very gentle on the palate. It comes across very, um, light. The nose is pleasing. The palates actually very nice. It doesn't have hardly any finish at all for me. So it just kind of, kind of what's your palette gives you a little bit of flavor, not too much. And then just goes away. Uh, very, very sessionable. You could get into trouble with this one really quick.

Yeah, I agree. And on the palette, uh, I do have some Apple, uh, following kind of the nose on it there. It's definitely rye. Like you said, it's a lower proof, but a good rye. And for me, it's a little bit dry. Do you agree with that? Is that what you're getting?

I do. It's, it's got the kind of a sweet nose on it and it's a little bit of sweetness upfront, but it dries out pretty quick on the back of your palate and, uh, it doesn't stick around a whole long time, but I am getting a nice little hug. Even though it's not got, it's only got 86 proof. I am still getting a little bit of a hug and, uh, it's kind of nice, a little bit of a warming effect there.

Yeah. Yeah.

The color of the rise very similar to that of the bourbon. They're both kind of a light amber color. They're both are out the same age. I don't think there's a lot of difference between the right now and the right then. I think it's pretty much kind of what we expect. Uh, I think they're both delightful. Now this one's $50 ish, you know, around 50, depending on where you get it. The bourbons around 40. Um, I would say give them a shot. If you've had them before, definitely try the bourbon again, because it has progressed a little bit. And, uh, as far as the right goes, I think it's about where it was. There's nothing wrong. There's no negative check boxes on either one of these. And, uh, if you haven't had a California whiskey on your bar and it's something you'd like to get, if you're sitting in California right now, listening to the bourbon road podcast, run down to your corner liquor store there and pick up a bottle for sure.

Yeah, I definitely agree with that. I think these would both be great additions to the bar and it's kind of cool to have something on there where people really don't know maybe what it is. I'm not sure that this is one that a lot of folks are quite familiar with just yet, but they should be.

All right, folks. Well, like I said, it's good for us to revisit these every now and then. We'll be doing that from time to time, particularly on those bottles that we've had on the show in the past that maybe we're a little bit younger and the distilleries had time to mature a little bit. We'll bring them back on. We'll have another taste. We'll see how they're doing. We gave three good examples today of distilleries that have made leaps and bounds in progress to better their product. And R6 is definitely one of them. Well, Brian, where can people find us on the internet?

So folks, you can find us on Facebook and Instagram, Twitter, YouTube, and even tech talk.

Even tech talk. We also have a private Facebook group called the bourbon roadies. Just go onto Facebook, search out the bourbon roadies. It'll ask you to join. If you click the join button, you'll get three questions. We want to make sure you're 21 old enough to drink. When I make sure, you know, you're getting yourself into a bourbon group. You'll, we don't want you to be shocked. The third thing is we want to make sure, you know, you need to play nice when you get in there because we don't let our members go after each other in the group. There's no hateful speech. There's no tearing somebody down for what they're drinking. You know, we can all drink whatever we like. And if you've got a bottle of R6 bourbon, everybody should just clap their hands and say good for you and tip up their bottle of whatever they're having. So. We do a show every single week on Wednesdays, uh, every now and then we'll kick out a distillery episode like this, where we'll do a review, uh, of a craft distillery, a rereview in this case. And, uh, so we'll pop them out every week on Wednesdays every now and then we'll throw in an extra episode. Be looking for those. We let we watch in our roadies group on we'll announce them in advance sometimes, but we'd love to have you check out. Every single episode, every single week, and Brian, what do they have to do to make sure they don't miss one?

So you can subscribe on Apple, YouTube, or any of your favorite spots that you would listen to podcasts on. And you're just looking for that button that says subscribe. And each time that we release a new show, you'll be notified.

Absolutely. And you can always reach out to Brian and I and Tyler for that matter at team at the bourbon road.com. Uh, we're always looking forward to hearing from our listeners. If you've got an idea for a show or a bottle or a distiller you think we ought to have on, uh, make sure you let us know about it. We'll be sure to check that out and get them on. And when you get a chance, check out our online store at the bourbonroad.com. Check out our swag there. We got t-shirts, hats, glasses, all kinds of cool stuff. We just put our OTDB beanie hat on there. That's the open the damn bottle hat. We'd love to see a few of you pick it up and take some pictures, let everybody know that you believe in open the damn bottle until the next time we'll see you down the bourbon road.

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