344, Penelope, Wolcott and Weller

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

We're very excited to have Blanton's bourbon shop.com is a new sponsor for the bourbon road podcast. In fact, this podcast is brought to you by Blanton's bourbon shop. Blanton's bourbon shop.com is the only official merchandiser for Blanton's original single barrel. Looking for unique gift. Blanton's bourbon shop has got you covered. Blanton's bourbon shop.com is your home for all Blanton's gifts. You know friends, it's never too early. Start planning your trip to the Bourbon Trail for 2023. We hope you'll join the Bourbon Road crew as we pull out all the stops this year at Bourbon on the Banks. So mark your calendars for October 6th and 7th and we'll plan on seeing you in Frankfort, Kentucky. Be sure to listen in during the halftime break for all the details on Bourbon on the Banks. Welcome back, friends, to another episode of the Bourbon Road Podcast. I am your host, Jim Shannon, and with me today in the studio is Brian Hyatt, your co-host. Brian, welcome back to another show.

Thank you, Jim. It's great to be back.

Yeah, we've been on a bit of a whirlwind lately. We've done a Southern Road trip. We've done a number of distilleries. We've had some music artists on. We actually talked about the Tennessee Whiskey Trail experience. So that's something we got coming up. We've had a number of good shows. We've got some great ones coming up. This Saturday, by the way, so after the show releases this Saturday, we're going to be sitting down with Victoria from Uncle Nearest. Now that is going to be a blast.

That's going to be a lot of fun. If you've listened to anything that I've said recently, I really, really love the Uncle Nearest story and the history behind it. I think it's just super cool.

And they're in town for the Derby. So we're in Louisville, Kentucky. Most of our listeners know that. The uncle nearest team is in town for the Derby. They're doing it right. They're, uh, hitting the town and dressing up and doing all the things. And they're going to be at the Derby on Saturday, but we're going to sit down with them just a couple hours before the one o'clock post and, uh, and have a little podcast. So that's going to be a great fun. We got some other distilleries coming up. We've got buzzards roost. We've got the bluegrass distillers. We've got three cord coming. We've got 15 stars, hard truth. We've got a lot of really good stuff coming up in the near future, but we're kind of, kind of sitting down today with a couple of bottles that I think we've both been seeing on the shelf and wanting to pick up. And Brian, what did you pick up?

Well, I picked up the Penelope four grain, straight bourbon whiskey. And I've actually seen a couple of roadies posts about Penelope somewhat recently. And so something that I've been wanting to try.

So this is the four grain and what's this bottle cost?

I was with tax and everything out the door, right around $37. Okay.

So not too bad. All right, well, we'll get into taste in that one in a minute. I want to let everybody know that I am sipping on a special release of Wolcott. This is a bottle that's out of the 1792 Barton distillery in Bardstown. That's a Buffalo Tray slash Sazerac distillery. And this is the 90 proof version. They have 100 proof ball and bond as well. But I heard a lot of good things about their standard 90 proof So I made sure to pick up a bottle of that and that was around $30. So Brian and I are going to be tasting to a couple of these today. So this is a good show where we get to sit down with a couple of, you know, reasonably priced bottles that may or may not be on everybody's radar, right? That's right. All right. Well, if it's okay, Brian, I'm going to start off with the Wolcott. I've actually been sipping on this one for a couple of days now. I picked it up at Total Wine. I think I paid about $30, right at $30 for it. And there was a lot to choose from that I hadn't had yet. So there's a lot of new expressions on the shelves this spring and there's a lot to choose from. So choose carefully. Watch reviews, listen to the show, watch the website and the blog postings and try to pick out bottles that seem to measure up. And this is one that I think does. And the reason it does, let me just say why it does. I've always been a fan of 1792. I've always liked their rye bourbons there. I've loved the little bit of, it's kind of like a Spitfire. It's a little bit of a cherry with a spice and a black pepper on the back end. The Wolcott is definitely along those lines. I don't know the exact match bill on this. We do know it's 51% corn and we do know it's a rye bourbon, but it is bottled by the Barton 1792 distillery of Bardstown and I don't know if everybody's aware of this, but they no longer have tours there. The gift shops closed. They no longer do tours out of that distillery. I don't know why they shut all that down, but they're still producing massive quantities of bourbon there. So cheers, Brian. I'm going to go through this. It's got a nice vanilla nose on it. A little bit of alcohol. The oak is present. It's very typical though. I'm getting a kind of, I'm getting a little bit of the like pair notes out of the barley, a little bit of cherry. I almost want to say it's got a nutty character to it, but it's pretty, pretty light. Cheers. I'm going to take a taste. Yeah, more of that vanilla packed with vanilla and oak. Um, the cherries coming through. It's not super rich. It's more like a, just a, just a center of the road bourbon kind of a, what you would expect out of a good solid bourbon. It's not overly thin though at 90 proof. I think it's got a decent body to it. And it's pretty good. Yeah, it's a pretty good middle of the road bourbon. I would say for 30 bucks, you can't go wrong with this one. It's actually pretty tasty, straight, neat like this. I would say it's right. It's right in that range of, you know, kind of a bottle. You would say I can mix this. I can drink it straight. I can do whatever I want with it because I can use it in cooking if I want to, because it's 30 bucks a bottle, right? Not paying too awful much for it.

Yeah, that sounds good. I'm going to have to give that one a try soon.

Yeah, I always love going into Total Wine because they have such a large selection and you can go in there and you get to see a lot of new expressions that are out. A lot of times you have to do a little bit of research to see actually who makes them. In this case, it's stamped right on the front of the bottle, distilled by the Barton 1792. So no guessing there.

Yeah, I'm a big fan of 1792. I've always really enjoyed their stuff.

No, as it settles in a little bit on the finish, it is a little drying. So there's a little bit of alcohol upfront, a little bit of drying effect on the back end. Um, I would just say just a solid middle of the road bourbon, nothing to write home about, but man, if you got a bottle of this, it's, you're going to enjoy it for sure. We'll make sure to put a picture of the bottle up folks and, uh, put our tasting notes in there so you can, you can check it out. Brian, let's talk a little bit about this Penelope you have in your glass.

Let me start by saying this, you know, this is a, uh, affordable bottle. You're looking at 80 proof. It of course is a four grain and the color is very, very light. Um, I'm holding it up here so Jim can see it on the camera. He can draw color even in it. Yeah, it's, it's very, very light. Um, the nose is it's, it's a pleasant nose. There's not a lot of alcohol burn to it or anything like that. It's actually pretty nice. You know, if I, right off the bat, I'm just going to say it smells sweet, a little sweet, maybe kind of fruity on there, uh, like an apple, but I'm gonna go ahead and give it a taste here as well. Uh, cheers, Jim. Cheers. So it's definitely sweet, a little bit creamy on the palate. I'm also going to say that definitely hints of vanilla coming through. But for me, the biggest thing really is that it is sweet and it's pleasant. The finish is thin. It's not a long finish. You know, when I look at the back of this bottle, I can even tell you it says there's a kiss of tangerine citrus. I get that a little bit. I do, maybe not as much as I would want, you know, after looking at what it says on the bottle here. But overall, it really is a nice little pour. that that's overall sweet. So, you know, I don't think it's going to blow anybody away, but for $37, I think it's a good buy. I definitely do.

Well, we're going to have to swap bottles. I'll give you the Wolcott. You give me the Penelope and we'll trade for a little bit. Drink it down about halfway, Brian, and then we'll swap out. How's that?

Okay. Yeah, this is a fresh crack for me. I mean, I just purchased this a few hours ago, so.

Well, awesome. Yeah, I've got something I'm going to tip up here on the second half of the show. I just, I just wanted to get into this Wolcott because I just got this feeling like, you know, it's one of those sleepers on the shelf that nobody's really reaching for yet. And, um, you know, if you go to, if you go to like Costco, you know, they've got the, they've got the, uh, the 1792 bourbon in there and the big bottle that you can get. And I think a lot of people are reaching for that for a price point, but, you know, this Wolcott's the same juice. I'm assuming it's the same, probably the same mash bill. as the typical 1792 stuff. And I just think people are probably passing, typically passing it by. Even though it's at that $30 point, which seems to be that $20 to $30 range seems to be where bottles tend to move okay, right? A lot of people are looking for bottles in that $20 to $30 range so they can enjoy something without breaking the bank. You know, yours is a 37 you said, the Penelope. That's right. 37. So still in that 30 ish kind of range. I think these are, I think it's good when we represent these bottles on the show, gives people some choices to make that are not, you know, high on the hog. That's right. I think we've had a couple of bottles lately that have been a little pricey. You had that, uh, that Kentucky Al Mardi Gras $500 bottle there. That's some good stuff.

That's right. No, I mean, it's good, but it's definitely a high price point. And I know that we've had some others that were as well, you know, but I've always been a huge fan of, you know, even the bottom, bottom, bottom shelf.

I like how bottom.

Oh, I mean, I'm good with the, well, I mean, I've talked about it several times, the old overhaul. You know, you can get that for pretty much nothing at the bottom of the shelf. You know, there's, there's several others as well. I'm really not afraid to try anything. And, uh, There's some hidden gems. You just got to search for them and be willing to try something a little different.

There are, but it's like you can go in to that bottom shelf and you get your feet wet and you get your ankles wet and then you get your knees wet a little bit and then all of a sudden it drops off and you're drinking Kentucky Gentleman. So you got to be kind of careful. That's right. Right. But, you know, let's be fair, Kentucky gentleman probably, probably commands a huge market share, even though it's not maybe our favorite separate, right? It does in fact, uh, sell an awful lot and same with the 10 high and old crow and the other things that are basically sitting down there on the bottom shelf. Those stores are moving a lot of bottles of that stuff.

That's right. And you know, the, the funny thing is, you know, we can say there was a big drop off there, but. So I've had some pretty expensive bottles here recently, and there can be a pretty big drop off with those as well. It's not just a bottom shelf thing.

I agree. We don't talk a lot on the show about whiskeys that disappoint us, right? We usually try to focus on those that have got our attention, those that people want to hear about. I don't know, there's just something about listening to a podcast or a YouTube channel or something where a whiskey is being bashed that never really appealed to me. Because I figure there's too many great whiskeys that need to be talked about rather than spend your time talking about the ones to avoid. I just think that, you know, when we find those and Brian, we get them, right? They're sent to us in the mail. Sometimes we get wonderful whiskey sent to us. In fact, I would say most of the time we get really, really delicious whiskey sent to us. It's just occasionally we get one that's just not ready yet. You know, just, it's just for whatever reason, it doesn't appeal to us. And, uh, we just don't promote it. We just don't put it on the show and we don't bash them. So it's kind of the difference between like, uh, what is it? American idol and the voice, right? One of them is trashing singers and the other one is lifting them up. So we're just trying to lift up the whiskeys a little bit.

And just because we may not like it doesn't mean that you don't like it and it's not good. So this is, this is how we view it and how we taste it and what we like. Uh, but there's plenty of times that someone hands me something and they say, you've got to have this. It's amazing. And I don't agree. And I'm sure there's a lot of times I pass something over that people say, what is he talking about?

Well, there's plenty of pallets out there and that's why there's so much diversity on the shelf. So. Well, Brian is pretty exciting to have our new sponsor on. Anybody who listens is listening to the show now heard him on the intro. Um, Blanton's bourbon shop.com. How cool is that?

Oh, it's incredibly cool. And, you know, I've been a huge Blanton's fan for many reasons over the years. But this one, you know, Blanton's bourbon shop is very near and dear to my heart. It's good friends of mine that run that. And it's the official Blanton's bourbon shop. So everything that you would see in the gift shop and what you see in the liquor stores. That's all produced by the Blanton's bourbon shop and they do a great job of finding new products that they're gonna roll out. When you look at it and you see that you can buy some Blanton's coffee or some maple syrup or coffee mugs, t-shirts, hats, I mean, they pretty much have it all. The chocolates, I would highly recommend the chocolates. They're pretty solid.

Yeah, I know. We got to be careful because, you know, in the history of the podcast, we've had a huge number of reviews on Apple podcasts, right? We got like a 5.0, a 5 out of 5 rating on Apple podcasts. But that doesn't mean we haven't had one or two people say something about us negative. And one of the comments, and I'll just say it right now, one of the comments was recently came in February. Somebody said, Blanton's this and Blanton's that, move along to another. So I guess we talk about Blanton's a lot on this show, huh? We must. Well, I think we do. I think, well, because you have quite the Blanton's collection and we started drinking from it in the beginning, right? That's right. You know, to have a five star rating on Apple podcasts means that you have to have so many more five star reviews than the one or two, one or two star reviews that you get. So we appreciate those comments, negative or positive in either way. But I think that we did hear you when you made that comment. We did read it and we saw it and we're paying attention to you. But unfortunately we have to talk about Blanton's on this show because guess what? They're a big sponsor, so glad to have them, right? Blanton's bourbonshop.com. Welcome to the bourbon road. Yes, welcome.

We are, we are excited. Jim, how many toppers do you have?

I don't really collect toppers. What about you?

Well, um, I did not until I was gifted, uh, the, the stave where you can place all the toppers. So I did start to collect those and. Made a second round and then started collecting the gold ones. And I said, you know what? This is getting a little crazy. I'm just going to stop collecting these. Cause I know a lot of folks that want them. So now I just get those out. If somebody says they want a topper, but it was a fun, it was a fun little thing to do.

So all those roadies listening to this episode, it's Brian at the bourbon road.com. If you need a topper, right?

That's right. I've got a whole drawer full of them.

All right. So the gold ones are tough to get.

They are. If you actually have the silver ones, you've, you've done something.

Yeah. So what, so tell me about the different colors. So we got, obviously the, the bronze-ish, antique-y looking ones are from the US bottles, right? Right. So what about the gold ones?

So the gold, that's found on those international releases and the silver, they actually stopped making. There used to be some blatant silver bottles out there and I'm sure there's still some out in the wild selling for ridiculous amounts of money, but I'm always interested to see if they're going to bring those silvers back. But you can get the golds if you find a spot where you can purchase some of the international bottles. You know, I would not recommend going and purchasing those online and having those shipped or anything like that. I would also say that, you know, don't buy anything. If someone posts on the bourbon roadies Facebook page and says, Hey, I have all these bottles. It's just best practice not to trust people in that situation.

Yeah, we've had, it seems like we've had a rush of, uh, spammers in the roadies lately. And, uh, I just went in and tightened up all the restrictions a little bit and Melody came on as a moderator and she's really. She's really looking at people hard to make sure we're not getting, but still they can get through because you can't tell sometimes, right? They look like an absolute normal person that's been posting in other groups and has activity and they're just, it's a mom with kids and all this other kind of stuff.

And they, they change their profile. They switch things up. They make it look good. They change it around. They're bouncing.

Yeah, so we apologize to those in the group that have to deal with that from time to time. But you know what, we set it up now where if, I think if two people report a post of spam, it will be removed automatically without even having to have an admin come in and do anything with it. So I'm not encouraging you to go after your fellow roadies. I'm just saying. If you reported a spam, it's a good chance that it'll get knocked out pretty quick. So we appreciate your help on that. Well, Brian, what do you think about all the music guests we've had recently?

Well, I love it. And I'm a huge music guy. So I've gone to concerts, many, many, many concerts over the years. And I like all types of music. It can be anything from classical all the way up to country to hard rock to heavy metal. I mean, believe it or not, I've not truly have listened to it all. So I think it's always a very cool. to have on artists and to listen to their stories and just learn more about them and all of the experiences that they've had over the years.

Yeah, it's pretty cool. Taylor Austin Dye, she was on our show. It's been a number of months back, but she has broken through. So if you listen to the Taylor Austin Dye episode, now you... I actually had my granddaughter visiting me this weekend. She's 18 years old and she's into all things 18 year old, right? Music and all, and she came to spend the weekend with us. I said, I know that song. I heard it play and she, I gave her a, a, she was doing some work around the house and I gave her one of those Bluetooth speakers to turn on out there. I said, I know that song. She goes, you do? I said, yeah, she was on our show. That's Taylor Austin and I, she goes, no way you know her. Well, I don't know her, know her, but yeah, she was on the show and that, that song is called rest in peace. That's pretty cool. And it is definitely at the top of the charts right now.

And then we had Bo Garrett on, which was just phenomenal. That was such a great episode.

And then we had Rob Robinson on who was in Blackfoot and Leonard Skinner. That was a great show. What an awesome show we had there. And then just recently, Joe Clark came on and, you know, Joe sings kind of Americana music, bourbon trail, kind of good solid. I called it country. He goes, I don't know if I'm country or not. But he sings truth, he sings good stuff, but he doesn't drink. And that was an episode, and it was just recently, where we got to talk about what it means to realize when you've gone too far with drinking, right? And we've probably got a few people that have and are going through that now. And it's nice to hear somebody come on and say, I couldn't handle it, I had to stop. We promote it, but we don't promote it to the point where it ruins your life.

That's right.

So we encourage all the roadies who are listening to our episodes and any listener for that matter, whether you're a roadie or not, if you're listening to one of our episodes and you think that you would like to hear more of these music episodes, not more than we're doing now, but just have us continue to do those. We'd love to hear the feedback from you. I know that when we were having chefs on, we got a lot of reviews from people who love the foodies out there, the people that love bourbon and food pairing and that love eating out at restaurants, that love fine dining. So our plan is to have more chefs on. Certainly our plan is to have more musicians on. You know, we've had a number of authors on in the last year. That's always fun. But I guess it's just about mixing it up a little bit, right?

That's right. You know, Jim, and you said something about Arthur, Arthur's here. Um, you know, I saw a bottle at the store earlier and it was Hemingway. Oh yeah. And I really wanted to grab it, but I was like, you know, I'm not buying another bottle for $110 right now. I'm buying something under 40. Um, But that one intrigued me a little bit. I'm going to try that one soon.

Well, Brian, hold off on that for a minute. I do encourage you to buy a bottle of the Hemingway, but not before we do our Hemingway episode, because guess what? We have the Hemingway rye. It's been sent to us. So, um, we definitely are going to have, um, have that on the show. So if you've been folks, have you been wondering about the Hemingway rye? And then you've been itching to maybe pick up a bottle of it. I'm not going to tell you, don't go ahead and get it. Go ahead and get it if you want to, but we've got a show coming up.

So stay tuned.

Yeah. Well, Brian, let's, uh, let's keep sipping on this Wolcott in that Penelope four grain. And, uh, we're going to take a short break and we come back. We got, uh, more to drink and more to talk about. Looking for a unique gift? Blanton's bourbon shop has got you covered. All of their hand-crafted wood products are made in their in-house wood shop with authentic bourbon barrels. Specializing in barrel-age potent treats, they use Blanton's barrels to age their own maple syrup, honey, and coffee. Find the most unique gift ideas for your golf lover, cigar connoisseur, avid coffee drinker, and Blanton's fan. Want to win an authentic Blanton's barrel head? Make sure you sign up for the giveaway on the home page of their website. Blanton'sBourbonShop.com is your home for all Blanton's gifts. As we mentioned earlier in the show, we hope you'll join us this fall on October 6th and 7th for Bourbon on the Banks. The festival itself is from 2 to 6 p.m. on October 7th and you can pick those tickets up at bourbononthebanks.org for $65. They also have an early access ticket for $75. It'll get you in an hour early and definitely get you access to some special pours. But if you always like that VIP access, this year they're bringing in the VIP access tickets. They'll give you access to their VIP tent and all the great things that go along with that for $175. Be sure to check out bourbononthebanks.org. You'll get all the details on this year's event. All right folks. So we are back Brian. I managed to put away the rest of that Walcott and the rest of that Penelope four grain. Um, any final words on the, on your four grain Penelope?

Um, really nothing other than, you know, if you have an extra $37, you're wanting to spend on a bottle of bourbon, I would give this one a shot.

Yeah. I kind of feel the same way about the Walcott, uh, the 90 proof Walcott. Um, I feel like, uh, it's, um, good example of solid Kentucky Rye bourbon. So, um, Barton 1792 has always done it right. They've always got a little bit of that cherry in there, you know, and I, it definitely comes out in this one. And, uh, just drinks, nice drinks, easy drinks, uh, kind of smooth. It's got a little bit of a pepper punch on the back, but, um, overall pretty solid whiskey for 30 bucks. So, uh, definitely say, see Wolcott on the shelf, pick it up. You can't go wrong. Now I can't speak about the Wolcott bottle and bond, the Hunter proof version. Uh, I haven't tried that one before, but definitely the 90 proof is pretty good. Now I think last week. When we had Joe Clark on, I had the Cooper's Craft 100. And in that particular case, I feel like the 100 proof version wins out on the Cooper's Craft. But in the case of the Wolcott, at least from what I've read and what I understand, at least from what I've tasted so far, the 90 proof is probably the better of the two. It's kind of funny how that works, right? It is. I mean, when it comes to ancient age, it's kind of the same story. Like I like the ancient age 80 proof. But the 90 proofs, you can have it. It's like, I don't know. It's just, I like the 80 proof better. And I don't know what the difference is. I know what the proof difference is, but I don't know, you know, what Rick houses they come out of, what's the aging profile, you know, what barrels that kind of stuff. But the 80 proof is always a better choice. All right, Brian. So what are we drinking? Cause we're drinking the same thing in this half. What are we drinking in this half?

Yeah. So as soon as I saw what Jim was drinking, I said, hold on a second. I'm going to do the same thing. So we have the Weller Special Reserve, which to make it easier for everybody, that is the green label. And it is 90 proof and it's a weeded bourbon, which is something that I really do love and enjoy quite a bit. So this is definitely one of those that that I look forward to drinking every time.

Yeah, it's, it's, it's one that I like as well. And it's, again, it's not one of those that's going to knock your socks off, but I like it as a kind of a kind of reset my compass, right? So you hear all the well or this well or that Buffalo trace this Buffalo trace that you get kind of caught up in the hype a little bit. And since you rarely see this stuff on the shelf, even the special reserve, I mean, if you're not in Ohio or Texas, you're probably not seeing it very often. But you sort of get this idea in your mind that it's some exceptional over the top whiskey, right? But every now and then you just need to visit one of these bottles and just reset your compass. Understand that there's a lot of great whiskey out there. And Weller is a good whiskey, no doubt about it. But the Special Reserve is not something that is, I would put in the exceptional column. It's just a good solid bourbon, right?

Yeah, I agree. I think it, you know, for me, I think I would say the word classic.

I think it's just a

you know something that's been around and you know we always have and I do really appreciate and love this. We have a lot of bourbons that are finished and a lot of new things that are coming out pretty regular like you know the Ambarana barrel and all these different things that we're now experiencing. So I think you said it best, you know, you're resetting your compass, kind of going back, doing something a little bit more simple that's been around for a while. And I think this definitely fits the bill for that.

Exactly. So the Weller special reserve and, and I won't talk about what, uh, manufacturers suggested real tail prices because you just, you're not, you're just not going to find it typically in the store. And when you do, it's going to have a little bit of an elevated price on it. But I mean, in Kentucky where it's very difficult to find. Allocated whiskeys. Uh, you can still pick up the green label for 50 or 60 bucks. Right. Um, you can get it on Drizzly for about 40. If you're in a shipping state, um, you can get it from a number of other kind of shipping outlets in the $60 range. Um, is it a $60 whiskey? Hmm. Heck no. Not in my mind. Is it a $30 whiskey? Yeah, absolutely. Is it a $40 or $50 whiskey? If you got to have it, sure. Why not? It's a stretch. It's a stretch. It's a stretch. Yeah, I can drive down the street and I can see it at twice retail and buy it all day long if I want it. I choose not to, normally, only because I understand that the shelf is full of amazing whiskey.

Yeah. And I'll say that, you know, for me, these are the types of bottles that do, I mean, they're always open. Obviously everybody that comes over, you know, they look at bottles and they want to try things if it's a cool label. But as soon as they see Weller, they want to give it a shot. Yeah. You know, it always amazes me still with how many people that really love bourbon and like they come over and it's not their first time drinking it. And they've been drinking bourbon for years. I've never had the Weller. I mean, you got to, you got to try it. So mine just kind of sit there and collect a little bit of dust while we're working all the, on all these new, uh, new, you know, just finishes and different things that are coming out.

All right. Well, let's check it out. Let's report on it. Let's reset our compasses. What do you say? Let's do it.

Cheers.

Mine's a fresh crack, by the way. I just cracked the, uh, the twist off cap on this one.

Nice. Mine has been open for a little while. There's mine's a, a large bottle. Um, handle. Oh, good for you. Yeah. So we've, we've got, got that going on, but there's about a quarter of it left.

Yeah, I get, you know, just the classic bourbon aromas on this. I get, you know, the vanilla and caramel, just the lightest amount of oak on it. It is a pretty light color. It's not as light as that Penelope, but it's not far off. I think it's just a hair darker than that Penelope. Maybe it is a little floral.

But, you know, I feel like you got it for me, you got to go a little hard to, you know, get in a pretty good in hell to get to the floral. That's just for me though.

No, I tend to agree with you. This kind of seems a little kind of light to me, very light and sort of hard to, I don't know, hard to grasp, hard to get a good nose on. It's kind of, you're reaching to try and find notes on it. Right. But there's literally zero ethanol burn on the nose and at 90 proof. That's, that's a good thing. Right.

Oh yeah. Overall for me, I'd say sweet on the nose. I mean, it should be sweet and soft. That's right.

All right. Let's taste it. Cheers. Cheers.

Oh, that's nice.

That's classic, right? I mean, it's again, you know, the vanilla and caramel, a little bit of honey. But I think that fruit or that floral fruit we were reaching for on the nose is there on the palette, right?

Yeah, that's right. I mean, I agree with that. Um, again, you know, just, just a sweet, uh, you know, for me, I do feel like I get the honey. I mean, there's, there's some of that fruit as well, but I get some honey and man, do I like it.

Yeah, it's, it's a good bourbon. There's no doubt about it. It is soft. It is a honey like, and, uh, the texture is a little thin, but, um, I'm not going to complain. I'm going to say that's a good pour whiskey right there. And, um, it's not over the top. Is it a $30 bottle? Is it a $40 bottle? Is it a $50 bottle? I say it's a good 30 to $40 bottle. That's it. If it would fit, it would fit squarely in that range. 30 to 40.

I agree.

Yeah. Well, based on what's on the shelf today, right? I mean, when you go down and you look at the 30 to $40 bottles, can this stand up to them? I think so. Is it a $60 bottle? Only if you got to have it. You know, if you haven't had one and you got to own one, Uh, I wouldn't blame you for paying 60, but, um, normally I'm probably not going to do it.

Yeah. Yeah. And I think, uh, on the finish for me, you know, there's the heat shows up a little bit more on the finish. Uh, kind of an oaky warm. you know, but it's still, still sweet.

Yeah. The oak is really, um, very, very present in this bourbon. And that's what I, that's one of the things I like about it is that the, you know, the barrel really comes through quite a bit. Uh, it's got that, that, I don't know that on the back of the palette, it's got that warm kind of comforting, oaky, finish on it that everybody looks for. And that's really nice. And it follows that sort of soft, sweet up front that it has. And you get that sort of warm, oaky finish that's got a little bit of heat to it. It's kind of a nice transition, don't you think?

I'm really glad you picked up yours so that we could drink this because it really is a nice reset.

Yeah. I think it's important every now and then to go back to something like this that is Hard to get, people are wanting to get it. And the special reserve is certainly not a bottle to chase after, but it is the entry level of the weller line. And the weller line in general is something that people do chase after. All right, Brian, so we got some events coming up. We got some things that people are going to be able to get out to and hopefully see us when we're out and about. Definitely the next thing on our list is going to be the Kentucky Derby, right? I mean, I'm only going to Derby this year, but you've gotten tagged basically to attend what, Oaks and Derby this year?

So I'm actually going on Wednesday, which is really for ad agencies and all that good stuff. So we'll be there Wednesday with all the ad agencies. And then Thursday, I get to take a break, relax a little bit. Um, not 100% sure on Oaks. It's, uh, maybe shaping up that I don't have to go and, uh, Derby. I will be there.

Yeah. Well, good. So that's pretty much a hundred percent coverage except for Oaks. Maybe you said the bourbon road is going to have a hundred percent coverage at the, at the Kentucky Derby this year at the down. So look for us. Where are you going to be sitting at during Derby?

Uh, so I will be, um, around the first turn, uh, with on the first floor clubhouse. Okay.

First term club there. Yeah.

Yeah. Awesome. So just, uh, you know, pretty cool to, I feel like most Derbies that I've been to with the exception of two, that's where I've always been. I kind of, that was my very first Derby experience. Of course, a lot's changed. Now you have the all inclusive. Uh, you know, pretty much where you're just tipping, you're not paying for your drinks and, um, you know, I do enjoy that.

Yeah. So that's what we're doing on Thursday. So we're doing the all inclusive, all food, all drinks, everything's included, just tipping your waiters and waitresses. And we're out of the weather, even though Thursday is supposed to be 72 and sunny. So let's see. I see a little rain maybe coming in for Oaks again this year. It seems to be the story for Oaks in the last four or five years.

It really does. And I think Saturday is supposed to be pretty nice.

So a little rain in the morning, I think, and then it's supposed to brighten up and be a sunny day for the, for the race. That's good. Yeah. Oaks always gets the worst of it. Why is that?

It really does. I was so thankful last year, we were in the turf club for Oaks and I mean, right after the big race, it opened up, it poured down. All the TVs went off inside. They stopped all the races for a little while. You're right. I mean, it seems to get it every year.

Well, the good thing about being in the turf club is you just go belly up to the bar and have a drink and you say, darn, I feel bad for those folks down on the field, right?

No, I, uh, I really do like being out there. And so I'm excited this year that we'll be outside and around the first turn and not, not inside. Um, but it's going to be a good time and. I mean, hopefully we'll see some roadies there. It'd be a lot of fun to do that.

So coming up in the 20th of May, we've got our event in Tennessee at the Tennessee Whiskey Trail Experience. You're going to see us. Actually, the experience itself is the May 18th through the 21st in Nashville. You can get your tickets on TennesseeWhiskeyTrailExperience.com. You can get an all access pass for $599. That's a bit to spend, but let me tell you folks, it gets you basically five days of fun, right? Thursday, Friday, Saturday, Sunday. Is that four days? I'm sorry. Four days of fun. And you can do a blend your own bottle experience. You can go to the Jack Daniel's barbecue on the hill. You can do a VIP grand tasting. And then on Sunday, women and whiskey experience. It's going to be a lot of fun. Check it out. We'll be there. We'll be there with bells on. Particularly, you're going to see us at the VIP grand tasting experience. We're going to be as big a part of that as we can be. Definitely check out Tennessee whiskey trail experience.com. We hope some of you can make it if you can, but we'd love to see it when we're there. And, uh, it's going to be a great time. We're also going to be at Bourbon on the Banks in October, October the 6th, actually, and 7th. October the 6th is Bourbon on Main, and then we've got the Bourbon Street on Broadway, I'm sorry. And then on October the 7th, we've got Bourbon on the Banks. Definitely a lot of fun, an event that's growing every single year, lots of fun in Frankfurt, Kentucky. Go to bourbononthebanks.org to check that out. That's probably the bourbon roads, our biggest event of the year. And we pull out all the stops. Uh, we'll have a great distillery. Um, well, Brian, we should probably go and announce that we're going to have. Lawrenceburg bourbon company are going to be pouring our barrel pick during that event. We're also going to have the bourbon road bar in there. We'll be selling our swag. We're going to have a big 40 foot tent. Lots of fun. Definitely want to come out and check that out. Going to be a big fun time. Brian and I will also be walking the Kentucky bourbon festival this year. We'll be visiting all of our friends down there who are attending the event. We'll be there all three days. It'll be lots of fun. So there's three big things for you to be doing with us this year. If you're coming to the Bourbon Trail, definitely reach out to Brian and I. And Hey, we'd love to have a pour with you. Wouldn't that be fun? Brian have a roadie. Let's, let's, let's meet at, uh, dot crows downtown and have a, have a beer or have a bourbon. Wouldn't that be great?

Oh, it'd be awesome. I mean, any chance to get out and have a little bourbon and meet somebody new and just experience all that. It's such a blessing to be able to do that. Yeah.

So folks, let us know what you think about the recent episodes we've had. If you think that our music episodes are something you'd like to have more of, definitely let Brian and I know. You can reach out to us on the website, thebourbonroad.com. You can send us a message on our Contact Us page. You can certainly send Brian an email at brian at thebourbonroad.com. I'm Jim at thebourbonroad.com. You can reach all of us at team at the bourbonroad.com. So there's all these ways to reach out to us. We'd love to know what you think. I mean, some of you may think that having a lot of these music episodes are a good thing. Some of you might think it's too much. Let us know. We're happy to tailor the show to meet the needs of our listeners. But we do plan on having more chefs on. I think we're going to have chef David Danielson on again here real soon. The executive chef down at Dan crossing new Haven, Kentucky.

That'll be a blast. We're looking forward to that.

I'm ready for that. I know a lot of great things coming and, uh, Brian and I are out on the road. We're constantly churning and burning, trying to put new content out for everybody. So we'd love to hear back from you. Well, Brian, I've had a great day today. I've had a lot of good whiskey, a couple of bottles. Well, one that I haven't had before and one that I need to revisit from time to time to reset my compass. So what do you think?

I agree with that. You know, it was great to have the Penelope. I get to see what that was all about, taste it. I was, I was happy with what I had there. And then, you know, going, going over to Weller Special Reserve, what a great way to wrap up the day. Get ready for the rest of Derby week.

You know, the funny thing when you're pouring from the well or bottle, I'm going to put my microphone over to it. When you're pouring from the well or bottle, what it sounds like. Cause they got that, uh, that little, uh, what was that called? The little poor bulb at the top there. Oh yeah. It gurgles.

It gurgles. I have a feeling mine's going to be making that same sound here soon. Yeah.

All right, Brian, it's been a blast. Had a good time. It's nice to, to, to take a break from having guests every now and then and just, you know, just sort of you and I reset and, and chit chat about what's going on. We hope everybody's enjoyed this show. Brian, where can everybody find us on the social media?

Well, folks, you can find us on Facebook, Instagram. Twitter, you can find us on tech talk. Uh, we're going to start doing a little bit more there. So be looking for that.

We also put a little bit out on YouTube. Now for you YouTube folks, not a lot of videos every now and then a short, right? If there's something makes it on the talk, it's going to make it on YouTube as a short, but typically, uh, we're not doing too many videos. Most of our stuff is still photography and posts, but. Uh, we certainly tried to hit as many of the social medias as we can. Every single week we put on an episode. We, uh, we try to make sure every Wednesday there's something new coming out, something entertaining, something that our listeners want to hear. And like we said, sometimes, you know, it's a guest. Sometimes it's just Brian. I chit chatting. We're always going to have whiskey on the show. We're always going to be drinking even when our guest isn't drinking, right? Brian. That's right. But we hope you listen to us every single week. And Brian, what do they have to do to make sure they don't miss a single episode of the Bourbon Road podcast?

Yeah. You're just going to click the subscribe button and you can do that on Apple and YouTube and Spotify and any other streaming source that, you know, has the podcast available on there.

Yeah, we're on virtually all the podcast applications. You can even say, Alexa, play the bourbon road podcast and she'll come up with our last episode. I really love doing that every now and then just for fun, especially when I've got like friends or family over. I'll say, Alexa, play the bourbon road podcast and up, it'll come in the book.

I was just thinking I need to do that next time I put my girls to bed and they think we're going to play a story.

You think they want to hear us chit chat about bourbon?

You know, the first few times that they listened, they didn't listen to the entire episode, but they did hear my voice there. That's you daddy. That's you daddy. I was like, yeah, they were not interested in hearing anything that, that we had to talk about.

They were just happy to hear that their daddy's famous, right? That's right. That's pretty cool. Well, folks, we'd love to hear from you. Brian and I are so open to comments and hearing what you have to say about your thoughts on the Bourbon Road podcast. We'd love to make it better. If you've got some ideas for a show, if you've got an idea for a guest or a whiskey that you've had that we haven't tasted yet, We'd love to hear about it. Just hop onto the bourbonroad.com. That's our website and there's a contact us page. You can go in and write us a little note and send it off to us and we'll be sure to get back to you on it. While you're on the website, my goodness, we've got t-shirts and hats and glasses and decanners and flasks and all kinds of cool Bourbon Road paraphernalia. We hope you pick up a few of those. When you buy something off the Bourbon Road website, you help us get down the road to do another interview. Helps pay the gas, helps pay the hotel bills, whatever it is, because we like to be on the road. A lot of times, it's just us out there. hitting this, hitting the street, putting some miles on our vehicles, getting around to these distilleries to interview them or wherever we're going. And we hope that you enjoy this stuff. And if you do, one way to support us is just to buy a t-shirt, buy a hat.

Yeah. And the, uh, the new Bourbonista shirts, I mean, super cool. Really liked those a lot. I think they're going to be a big hit. And, uh, I think the design was really good on those, but just a fun, fun shirt.

Yeah. It's, it's a long time coming, getting a shirt for the ladies. You know, this is not something the guys are going to buy unless they're buying it for their wife. This is a ladies T and it's something that's fun and it lets them, you know, sort of express themselves in the, in the bourbon world. And we hope you'll check it out. The bourbonista t-shirt it's on the website, ladies, check it out. I think you'll like it. Brian, I've had a blast today. It's been good. It's, it's kind of nice when it's just you and I once in a while and we get to kind of just chill and drink whiskey and chit chat. It's kind of a, again, like we reset our compass on Weller. It's also you and I get to reset once in a while when we don't have to like study up and get ready for a guest, right?

Yeah, it's really nice to reset every now and then. Um, and this was a good one. And I think we're ready to. Start getting on down the road again.

Well, that's, that's, that's a nice segue Brian. So folks, we were glad you joined us again today. We had a great time. We're going to continue sipping on our weller. And in the meantime, we'll see you down the bourbon road.

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