370. Sample Day - Four Whiskeys

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'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 a unique gift. Blanton's bourbon shop has got you covered. Blanton's bourbon shop.com is your home for all Blanton's gifts. The Bourbon Road is excited to have pintsandbarrels.com as a sponsor of this episode as well as our official custom apparel provider. Be sure to check out pintsandbarrels.com and browse their ultimate online store for bourbon loggers. Hello listeners and welcome back to another episode of the Bourbon Road Podcast. I'm your host Jim Shannon and tonight it's Brian and I in the Bourbon Road Lounge. We're sort of hanging out trying to catch up on a few samples we've gotten recently. Are you excited to get through this, Brian? I'm excited. All right. So we've had a couple of episodes on the road. We had a couple episodes together where we were at events. We had a great time. It's been a wonderful September and October. The leaves are falling. The weather's getting cooler. The higher proof bourbons, the higher rye bourbons, they're starting to look a little more yummier. What do you think?

I think so.

All right. So today we've got four whiskeys for you and we've got a number of samples that came in to us and a couple of whiskeys that caught our attention that we want to bring to your, well to your attention today and kind of a reset, set back, relax, have a few bourbons, take a chill pill, have a good time. Man, I need it.

I need it. It's been a long stretch.

It has been. And you know, the last four or five days I've had family in town, they do like to drink bourbon, but they really like to drink beer. So I've been drinking a lot of beer the last few days and it's kind of good to sit back with a couple of bourbons tonight. Just have a good time with you, Brian. I've kind of missed you just a little bit.

Yeah, it's been what? Two weeks? It has been. Two weeks or so. Yeah.

And we put out our best effort at Bourbon on the Banks. We had a great time there. But today we're going to drink through a few Bourbons. Like I said, we've got some samples in. But first, one of the things that kind of grabbed our attention at the Kentucky Bourbon Festival this year was the big marketing effort put forth by Northern Kentucky and the B line to sort of spotlight the whiskeys and the bourbons that are put out in Northern Kentucky, which is okay, it's still the bourbon trail, but it's kind of at the far reaches of the bourbon trail, right? That's right. So they're kind of doing their own thing up there. And one of the distilleries up there that has always shined a big light on the bourbon business is New Riff. And I think you and I both have been big fans of New Riff for some time.

I have been, and I think they do a great job with their selections, barrel selections, and allowing people to come up and do that. And their experience is great.

And they're right there on the river, just across from Cincinnati. They're not a small operation. They put out some volume. I mean, OK, they're not Heaven Hill, but they do quite a bit of volume. Kind of a flavor profile that sort of stands on its own a little bit, a little bit more of a high rye, something with a little bit of a bite.

Kind of their own, they walk their own line, would you say? I would say so, yeah.

Well, tonight we've got the new riff, Kentucky straight bourbon whiskey, and this is a bottle and bond whiskey. So it's going to be 100%. It's going to be minimum of four years old. Uh, and we're going to drink through this, let you know what we think about it. I think we've had it on the show before, but it has been, I want to say it's been probably a year and a half or two years since we've had this whiskey on the show. So I'm glad to bring it back again, give all our new listeners a chance to hear our thoughts on it. Let's get straight to the whiskey brand.

Cheers. Cheers.

That has a nice, wonderful nose on it. That rye spice just pops, just pops on it. But for 100 proof, I don't get a lot of ethanol, not a lot of bite on the nose, but I do get that nice rye muffin, rye flavor.

Yeah, the spice jumps out and I do love the fact that there's not a lot of ethanol on there. That makes it real nice.

They have a number of expressions. They do make a phenomenal rye. They're bottled in bon bourbon. It's just something, just their core product is just something special and I'm ready to taste it. How about you? I'm ready. Cheers. Cheers. Yeah, I mean, it's got a lot of rye. So it definitely has that kind of that broad rice spice mouth feel to it. It's got a little bit of a kind of a butterscotch note for me. So it kind of skips right past caramel and goes straight to butterscotch. A lot of oak, a little vanilla. I would say that. Yeah, a little vanilla. But this, but at 30% of, so the match bill on this is 65, 30 and five, 65 corn, 30% rye, 5% malted barley. But the Oak on this is really there.

I mean, it's right up front. It is. And I like that.

Yeah, I do too. Unfiltered as I would say as most whiskeys are, most bourbons are anymore. People have kind of found that the bourbon drinkers, at least those that like to taste their whiskeys in the 100 proof and plus range are expecting their whiskeys to be unfiltered. Unfiltered anyway.

I remember the first time I saw the non-chilled filter that I could really remember. And Four Roses was kind of the one that jumped out to me more than anything else. And that was, I don't know, probably seven, eight years ago. I was like, why have I not really paid attention to that before? But I think you're right. I mean, it's a big deal. I think it makes a big difference.

I think for a long time distilleries were fearful of the flocking that took place in bottles when they got cold. So, you know, your distillery, you're producing whiskeys at 90 proof, 85 proof, 86 proof, 80 proof, whatever it is. And you ship those bottles to distributors. And during the shipping process, they find themselves getting cold, very chilled. And what happens is they tend to flock or solids tend to come out of solution. They get kind of cloudy. It's not easy to get those back into solution. When the bottles are sitting on the shelf and somebody looks at them, you got that cloudy look to them. Nobody wants to buy a cloudy whiskey, right? That's right. It doesn't happen with whiskies that are 95 proof and above. It just doesn't happen, but the lower proofs tend to flock out a little bit like that in cold weather. But bourbon drinkers like you and I have come to know that non-chill filtered whiskeys, whiskeys that aren't passed through a chiller and then filtered to remove the flocking, have a much more velvety and thick and viscous mouthfeel. They're just better. They're just, I mean, altogether, they're just good. I agree.

Yeah. So talking about cloudy.

Yeah.

And you just said beer. What do you think about cloudy beer?

Well, you mean like an IPA, like a milkshake IPA?

One of those get real. It would appear to be a lighter, I guess, would amber be a good color to pick, a lighter color. But you can see that it's a little bit cloudy. You can't see through the glass. Right. I was kind of surprised.

how good some of those can be.

And I know beer is such a wide range, but I think those are the ones that stand out to me is when you're used to getting that Pilsner or something that comes to you and it's a little, you can see through the glass and you get one of those cloudy beers. It's like, wow.

What should I expect here? You know, I never thought about it with the beers, because I think with whiskeys, people feel like the liquids are a little more refined, distilled, therefore it should be crystal clear, right? And when it's not, they think something's wrong with it. I don't think anything's wrong with it. I think if you drink it, you'll be perfectly pleased with it. But that look just sort of drives people.

Well, and remember Copper and Kings, the conversation with Absinthe, how the color changes could happen with Absinthe as well.

Yeah, the chlorophyll turns brown. Nobody's going to like that. Well, anyway. It's just not pleasing to the eye. So the Kentucky, Kentucky is kind of big. It seems like the Bourbon territory is kind of central, northern, north central Kentucky, Louisville, Bardstown, Frankfurt, Lexington is kind of the core of the sort of the Bourbon scene. Northern Kentucky, in fact, New Ref is in Newport, Kentucky, right on the river, just across the Ohio River from Cincinnati. Certainly the Bourbon Trail extends to there and there's a number of distilleries up there like Boone County and others, but they're so far outside the main core of the Bourbon Trail that they miss that flow of traffic a little bit. Wouldn't you say?

I would say so. I have friends when they come in and one of them is a group of guys from North Carolina. They always, always, always, always go to Northern Kentucky. They hit New Riff. I'm sure they hit some of the other ones, Pensive. And then you have the Neely family and some others that are kind of up that way. You get in the Mayfield area, you've got others. But that's way up the river. That's way up the river. Now you're really scooting up the rivers. So if you fly into Cincinnati. You're right in the heart of Northern Kentucky. You're right there. So why not go ahead and stop in and check out some of these distilleries and a new riff. You're going to be happy. You stop in there. They're going to treat you right. You're going to have a good time.

Yes, it's a great place and there's a fantastic liquor store right next door. Actually, they share a parking lot with a, just an amazing liquor store. And, uh, yeah, you can walk into that place. There's going to be probably 200 bourbons on the shelf. It's just phenomenal. So I highly recommend folks, if you, if you are flying into the greater Cincinnati, uh, Northern Kentucky airport. Definitely take time to pop in into Newport. Check out New Riff. As you're driving towards the core of bourbon country, you're going to pass right by Boone County Distillery. They're pretty amazing. Oh yeah. And just take a little dog lay there, hit Lexington, pop into a few places, James Pepper, other places down there, and then head east. Oh, I'm sorry. Head west. And my goodness, it's just nonstop distilleries.

It really is. And there's some great, great places to stop in. If you do the things that Jim has been able to do here recently and travel the way that I would like to travel here in the near future and rent an RV or something of that sort, how cool would it be to hit that side of Kentucky that I would say most people don't think about, and you have a lot of opportunity to see some cool things and stop into some distilleries that you may not always know that are in that area of the state.

It's a fantastic area. I highly recommend people get up to Northern Kentucky and check out the whiskey scene there. Check out B-Line. It is the sort of Northern Kentucky coalition of restaurants, bars, and distilleries that sort of embrace the bourbon scene in that part of the country. Check them out. There's probably a half a dozen good distilleries up there that make great product. New Ref is definitely a shining star in that area. I love this whiskey. I really like it a lot. I mean, it's got great character. It has a great spicy core to it. Good solid butterscotch feel. And you know, anybody who's making a bottle and bond whiskey is doing it right.

Yeah, I agree. I love the bottle on Bond and New Riff has done a great job. They have. Like I said, I have some great picks from New Riff. I have one from my friends in North Carolina, Pig and Pickle. I have, I don't know where I got this bottle, but I had one that was called Fat Boys. Fat Boys. And that was really good as well. Really good.

Awesome. Well, Brian, it's good to have you back. It's great to get through that first whiskey of ours here. We've got another whiskey coming up and it's one that you're going to talk a little bit about. This is a sample that we received in, it's probably come in a couple of weeks ago. We haven't gotten around to it until now, but won't you tell folks what's in our second glass today?

Well, so this one. Actually, we had some weeded bourbons on, I believe last time I was on, so this one's going to fall right in that same discussion there. This is from Heaven Hill, and this is the Bernheim Barrel-Proof Kentucky Straight Wheat Whiskey B923.

So we did have the Bernheim Wheat Whiskey on a few weeks back. I think on that show we were kind of highlighting wheat whiskies, but this is, this in particular is something that probably a lot of people haven't had, right? Which is the barrel proof version of it.

That's right. And so they had, they had one that was released in February of this year, 2023. So this one was just kind of hit the shelves in September, the B923.

One of the things about this is that it's got such a deep, rich color to it. This is something that's, You know, when you think of a kind of a straight wheat whiskey, you don't think of something that's going to have a lot of deep dark amber color to it. This is mahogany. And what's the proof on this brand?

So the proof on this is a 120.6. Okay.

This is a, it's got a little bit of heft to it. Awesome. Well, they sent us a sample. We, I think we got a, a, a two 75 from them or at least less than a full fifth of whiskey from them, but it's certainly enough for us to sample taste and know what we're thinking. So cheers. Cheers. Wow. The nose is so awesome on that.

I don't get 120. No, I don't either.

Not at all. I fully expected to get hit with a big punch when I put it to my nose and it didn't happen.

I mean, there is no ethanol to me at all on this nose.

No, it's so light and smooth and soft. Kind of a, like a super light kind of fruity nose on it. I'm almost having trouble figuring out a particular fruit. I get this fruity waft to it, but it's not like, is it strawberry or?

It's just so subtle.

I would never, ever guess this to be 120 proof. Putting it to my nose, I would be like, oh, this is 85 or 90, right?

Oh yeah. No, it definitely does not come across as a 120.

Just a tad bit of spice to it, but man, you can definitely tell it's a barrel spice. It's definitely not from any kind of a spicy grain or anything like that. This is just soft, sweet, lightly floral, a little bit of fruitiness to it. Almost like a juicy fruit. Oh, juicy fruit gum. Cheers. Ready to taste. Cheers. Okay. So it's a different animal on the palette altogether. Not overly sweet.

Cinnamon.

Yes. Cinnamon. Oak. Not a lot of super sweetness on it. I expected it to be sweeter than this and it's not.

I mean, I just get it. I get a lot of cinnamon.

Yeah. A lot of cinnamon. This is, so it went from like juicy fruit gum on the nose to like a big red on the palate. Almost like a total change over.

Yeah. Like red hot, sore, you know, the, the big red chewing gum.

Yeah. Yeah.

Absolutely. Always whenever I hear big red, always get tied up with the big red drink, which is nothing like the bubble gum.

Going back to the nose, it's just like soft and subtle and unassuming. You take a sip on the palette.

You know, the palette is so different from the nose. Jekyll and Hyde. This is pretty interesting. I think you could really, you could have some fun with this one with friends. You could really throw people. It's a curve ball, no doubt from the nose to the palette.

Yeah, if you're trying to catch somebody in a tasting and try to get them to name the proof or name the distillery or name the... No, even name the category of whiskey this is, right? I think from the nose, there's no way you're going to get this. And if you do, by the time you taste it, you'll be like, no, that's not right. There's no way. Because this is definitely a Jekyll and Hyde kind of whiskey here.

I mean, what do you think about this being a weeded on the palate?

Like I just, it sizzles the front of the tongue a little bit. It's got a good bite mid palate. It settles in on the back. It's got a great deal of oak and spice on the back end.

The spice is more of a cinnamon.

But you know, the impression stays on the mid palette is like a, it's a pretty, I don't know. I'm not going to say spicy, but it's a pretty cinnamon hot whiskey. Right?

It really is.

And the nose is no way telling you that's going to happen.

It's a long finish too.

Yeah.

I mean, there is nothing short about this finish at all.

Absolutely. I'd say it's really good. It's a little bit, uh, I mean, confusing. If you like the nose to match the palette, if you like the nose to be a good indication of what's coming when you taste it, this is not your whiskey. Um, if you like things that surprise you and take you by surprise, Hey, this could be it. This is a good one because it is a good whiskey. It's a good sipping whiskey.

No, I mean, yeah, I don't, I don't mean to take anything away from it. Cause I, I think it's pretty fantastic.

Yeah.

And, and I do, I really, I like cinnamon. I like the red hots. I like, uh, the big red chewing gum. I like all that kind of stuff. So this, uh, this is really, really good.

So did Heaven Hill have any tidbits of information on this particular product to, to let us know what they thought about it?

Well, they didn't really share a whole lot. Uh, you know, the mash bill is 51% wheat, 37% corn and 12% malted barley. Aged between seven and nine years.

Okay. So it's a well-aged whiskey. It is. Yeah. Yeah.

And, uh, you know, it's one 20.6 proof. You know, I guess I could probably take a look back and see what the release in February was like of this year, but I'm going to go ahead and assume that it was probably nothing like this. This is unique.

Yeah. Yeah. This is, this is, this is a whiskey that'll take you by surprise. I would, first of all, if I was tasting this blind. I'm going to say the last thing I would guess it to be is a Bernheim wheat whiskey. By taking the nose, I would say it's a little soft. It could be a weeded bourbon, but I would never guess it to be 120 proof. I'd probably guess it in the 90 proof range. And then you taste it and that's where it reveals itself. as kind of a cinnamon bomb, uh, definitely starts tasting a little bit more like 120 proof whiskey and, uh, totally different than it's, it definitely is Jekyll and Hyde.

No, there's, there's no doubt about it. And well, one other thing about this one, the suggestive retail is 64.99. So, I mean, that, that's really not bad. Like I, think it's one you would pick up all day long.

Yeah. You know, a 120 proof whiskey in the seven to nine year range from a big boy distillery, 60 bucks. Yeah. There you go.

And Heaven Hill, they just, they do a great job. They do. Absolutely. Fantastic job.

Well, you know, we, we kind of neglected wheat whiskies for a while. I would say we, you know, we probably in 370 episodes, we have had less than two episodes relating to wheat whiskies. I think we've caught up a little bit. We've got a couple of episodes here in the last month that have sort of touched on them. My general take on this is, um, if you haven't had a wheat whiskey, you should definitely try one. Uh, if you haven't had a barrel proof wheat whiskey, it's a surprise, at least from heaven. Oh yeah. And, uh, you probably ought to give it a shot at the very least, get a pour in a bar, give it a shot. Find a friend who has a bottle. That's right. Visit the distillery down in Bardstown. That's a great place to visit. It absolutely is. Brian, I'm kind of looking forward during the break here to just sipping through this and talking a little bit more about it with you. But I want to thank Heaven Hill for sending us this sample. It's always nice to receive a bottle from Heaven Hill. You always know it's going to be a great surprise. And we look forward to the next one. So cheers, folks. Stick around. We'll be right back. We got two more whiskeys and a great, well, another 30 minutes. Cheers. Cheers. 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-aged 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's bourbon shop dot com is your home for all Blanton's gifts. If you're a bourbon drinker, and I bet you are if you're listening to this podcast, you need to head over to pintsandbarrels.com and check out the ultimate online store for bourbon lovers. Pints and Barrels Company was started by bourbon lovers for bourbon lovers. From spices to t-shirts, you'll find the perfect bourbon gift. Pints and Barrels proudly supports the bourbon road and invites you to visit pintsandbarrels.com. You need a custom apparel or swag for your bar, distillery, maybe even your bourbon society. They can do that too. As a matter of fact, they print our apparel. We're so happy with the quality and fast turnaround, pintsandbarrels.com, the ultimate bourbon lovers gift shop and branding specialist. All right friends, we are back. We had a great break there, Brian, and I sipped on that high-proof Bernheim. My goodness. If we had to slow down a little bit, that's a hot and spicy booger, isn't it?

It really is.

Yeah. Wow. We managed to get through it. And you know what? It's quite the animal of its own. I think we called it Jekyll and Hyde, a little bit of Chimera. There we go. There we go. The nose and the palate don't match on it, but it's an interesting pour. It's definitely at a high proof, 120. As far as wheat whiskies go, that's probably the tip of the iceberg for spicy hot wheat whiskies, but the nose, you would never guess it.

Never get it.

All right.

So we're starting this half with, uh, with another whiskey. Brian, you're going to talk a little bit about this one. People kind of know we've been on a little bit of a Georgia whiskey kick here lately. And, uh, and this is another whiskey from Georgia. This is one that was sent to us, uh, a few weeks back. And, uh, I'm delighted to get a chance to taste it because their rye whiskey and their bourbon whiskey, uh, that we took to bourbon on the banks was, it was very popular smash it, smash it definitely. And, uh, so here we have another whiskey from them and, uh, well, Brian, won't you tell us a little bit about it?

Yeah. So this is the 2023 double Oak. And this is a limited release only about 3,200 bottles released. Uh, the allocation is in Georgia, Arkansas, Tennessee, and Texas. And this is one of the darker it's chocolate Brown. I mean, it is, it is dark on dark.

Why don't you tell everybody what the distillery is? So yeah, 13th colony. 13th colony. That's right. Definitely a fan favorite for us.

It is. And you know, everything they put out that we've had that we've been able to share with folks. Like they, they love it.

Yeah.

It's, it's fantastic. So 13th colony, 2023 double oak. And, uh, this is a 10 year. And we're going to go up a few notches here on the ladder for proof. We're going to go ahead and raise this up to 136.8.

Oh my goodness. Dangerously close to hazmat.

Yeah, this is, I was trying to think back at the, the highest proof that I've had recently. And I can't really remember. But I always kind of judge high proof on, unfortunately for some folks, the plantain straight from the barrel. So I've had that as high as 133.4. But I can't say that I recall too many getting up into 136, 137, 140. We're up there. Yeah, we are.

I'm excited to try it. This is a very dark chocolate, dark mahogany, dark whiskey. It's beautiful in the Glen Carey. Oh, it is. And I'm very excited to try this and thank you 13 colony for sending us a sample of this. We're going to review it and we're going to talk about it truthfully. Cheers, Brian.

Cheers.

Oh my goodness. The nose on that is just wonderful. I'm just going to say maple, maple, cherry, cherry maple. deep, dark, rich. This is a 10 year old, you said, right? Yeah. Every better 10 year old. It reminds me a little bit of like, uh, the richness you get out of a well or 12. Just wonderful. But my goodness, just caramel, butterscotch, maple, cherry, just deep dark oak and rich and she Very nice. Very nice. I would have guessed this over 10 years. I think so. I think so.

I mean, from the appearance side, the nose is, is fantastic. I mean, the nose definitely. So that's 136. Yeah, it does.

And, but it doesn't send like sends the nose hairs or anything. It's just like this, you know, this is a real big, bold whiskey. This is something you're going to really enjoy tasting. This is something that would, uh, compliment even the most, uh, aggressive cigar.

Oh yeah. Yeah.

All right. Cheers. Oh my gosh. That is so good. This reminds me of a George T stag is really good.

It's every bit of one 36.

Yeah. Not at stag junior. This is a George T stag. Yep. Wow. So wonderful.

I mean, for me, I still get the, like the maple, uh, caramel. Those really come out strong.

Yeah. Some of the chocolatey notes are starting to come in on it though. It's a little bit of that, those chocolate bitters, those cocoa nibs. Um, it definitely has that darker, deeper, richer, um, chocolatey cocoa flavor to it. Oh my goodness. This is a wonderful whiskey. Can we get a bottle of this? Is there any of this around?

This is really good. Well, I believe on the 13 colony site, it says that this one is sold out online, but you can get it in stores.

So at the distillery, you can't get it anymore. They've sold out. Oh my goodness.

So if you're in the, well, Georgia, Arkansas, Tennessee area, I bet you could get in Tennessee.

Yeah. So this is available online though, right? Drizzly, Sealbox. What's the price on a bottle of this?

Well, so that, you know, I had a little trouble trying to find that. Of course we have the folks that like to. charge a little more for it.

Okay. So when, when a bottle sells out quickly or it has, uh, sort of a great reception early on and it becomes very hard to put your hands on price tends to climb a little bit in the, at the online stores. So what, what is the range that you've seen?

I bet that, uh, based on what I've seen on my research, you're looking anywhere from $80. All the way up to $300, $400.

Any indication on what the MSRP is on this? I would assume it's closer to 80.

The retail price from what I'm finding is supposed to be $79.99. Okay.

So it's an $80 bottle out of the box, but it's had such a great reception that it, it's selling out quickly. Mm. So if you're in the distribution area for this whiskey and you find it on the shelf and it's anywhere in the, I would say it personally, I'm going to say if it's anywhere in the 80 to 120 range, I'm going to tell you to snap it up. Go ahead and get it. I would. Yeah. This is really don't wait.

Cause you know, limited release, you're not going to get it again. How many bottles were there? Uh, 3,200.

3,200 bottles. These guys at 13th colony are killing it. They're really killing it. Georgia Stillers in general are just nailing it. Right. And this is a wonderful whiskey. We've got to get down there, Brian. Wow. I think we need another Georgia road trip. I need a road trip. You need a road trip.

I need just a, just a road trip.

Well, we should do it. We should, uh, I tell you what we need to do. We need to get two tickets to Atlanta. Get us a rental car. We need to hit America's. We need to hit coming. We need to hit Atlanta. We need to go back to our favorite spots. Georgia is killing it right now. And this is a great whiskey. 3,200 bottles is not enough 13th colony. You need to make more of this stuff. Oh my goodness. I think, I think they've been on the show now three or four times over the last year. It's always been amazing. The product that they put out and they just need to step up and, and make more volume. I think this is good stuff.

I'm just looking and really appreciating the coding on my glass.

I mean, I haven't seen, I tell you what, I haven't seen a whiskey this dark since old Forester 1910.

Yeah.

This is about what it looks like, right? I mean, it's really a deep dark chocolatey amber color on this.

I remember when you turned me on in 1910, that was, I don't know how many years ago, but we were at Churchill together.

Yeah.

And we were in that suite and you said, let's get this. And then you're like, well, the 1920 is pretty good too. Let's.

We ordered something. I can't remember. I remember what it was. We did order like a bottle of the Old Forrester 19 some, I mean, I don't remember what it was. We ordered a bottle of old Forester for the suite, but they were out of it. So they comped us the bottle in 1910 as an apology and we made it go away pretty quick.

Yes, we did. That was great. Oh, it was so good.

What a great day at the track. And today is a opening day of Fall Meet. I wish I could have been there today.

Caneland wrapped up and now we're moving on to Churchill and here we go.

It is horse raisin season. Awesome. Brian, this is a great whiskey. Yes, it is. I've gotten so excited about these guys. I tell you what, there's three distilleries right now. They're just darlings of mine in Georgia. And I hope our listeners aren't getting tired of hearing it, but Legends Distillery, ASW Distillery and 13th Colony, they're just killing it.

So why do you think Georgia is doing so good like what what's going on down there for these guys to be having this much success and to continue to put out. just phenomenal releases.

Well, I think their consumer base is demanding. I think they expect high quality whiskey. And in order for them to be successful in their area, they have to produce high quality whiskey. And it's really good stuff.

And you don't have to be in Kentucky to make great whiskey.

We've learned that over and over again. Colorado's got some great whiskeys. Certainly Washington State does. Texas does. Uh, next week we're going to Iowa. We'll be in Iowa next week. We'll be tasting some great whiskeys from Iowa. And, uh, you know what? They just need to, if, if you don't produce a top quality, delicious whiskey, you're not going to be in business very long. And the guys in Georgia just are doing it right. They're just doing it right.

So amazing.

This is such good stuff. We actually have another Georgia whiskey coming up next. It's not a bourbon though, folks, just, uh, uh, we'll, uh, we'll give you an upfront hint there. It's going to be something a little bit off the wall, but we wanted to treat you to a new special whiskey that we've gotten in recently. And, uh, we'll have that here in just a few, but I just want to savor this so rich. It's really good. One more time, Brian, what's the price? What are the states they can get it in? I know everybody can't get it, but it is available online. So what's the price? $80 retail?

Retail is $79.99.

Okay.

You're probably going to pay a little bit more than that. But what are the states it's available in?

Georgia, Arkansas, Tennessee, and Texas. Okay.

I feel like Texas always gets the love in the distribution, don't they?

They always get the love. They always get the love. Texas and Washington DC.

Yeah. Go figure. Well, for Washington DC, you got to take care of our politicians, right? I guess so. Oh yeah.

There you go. And then the price is, like you said, is $80, but what are they going to pay for it on, let's say, Sealbox?

Well, Sillbox, I believe was $120. Okay.

Yeah.

So I mean, you're, you know, if you, if you find the right store and you're in Georgia, Tennessee, Texas, or Arkansas, you know, you're probably going to get a pretty good price there. Uh, excuse me. When I back up, Silbox was actually 200. 200.

That's pushing it for me. I'll just, just a little bit because, because anytime you're more than double, uh, MSRP, you kind of got me scratching my head.

Well, and you know, how easy would it be for us to jump in the car and drive down to Tennessee real quick and hit a couple of stores and probably find it.

Sure. But if you're listening to us and you're in Nebraska, you're probably like, well, I can't do that. That's right. Uh, do I drop 200 on this? You know, I don't know if I would or not. It's awful good though.

It is well, and it's, it's also limited. So. You know, you, you can get it and you can get it now and soon, or you may not ever get it. And if you find it down the road, you're going to be paying more than 200 in most cases.

All right. Well, you know, your own pocketbook folks, if this is something that you've heard us talk about it and taste it, if it's piqued your interest and you think you just got to have it, you know, your own wallet, that sense of urgency, you make your own decision. I personally, I don't think I would drop 200, but it's awful delicious. I would definitely drop one 20.

Yeah, I would agree with that. Yeah. I mean, let's, let's be honest, 200 on any bottle of whiskey is going to be a lot for me. Um, you know, I'd like to be in that 70. to 120 on the high end. Yeah.

80 bucks MSRP, the price that 13th Colony put on it, buy, buy, buy all day long. I absolutely would. No doubt about it. But as the price goes up, as the scarcity goes up and it's harder to get, I don't know where I'd draw the line. In fact, I don't think I could tell anybody what to pay and what not to pay. It's really entirely up to you. Personally, I would go to 120. I probably wouldn't go to 200. How do you feel?

I agree with that. Again, I like to, when I purchase whiskey, I don't like to get too out of control. And I like it to be in my sweet spot. If it's over my sweet spot, I'm going to drink it at a bar. I'm going to taste it. I'm going to, you know, find friends that I can let them taste some cool things that I have. And maybe they'll let me taste something cool that I'd like to try. So there's a lot of ways to, uh, to enjoy whiskey without having to purchase something that's a little bit out of your price range.

Here's the takeaway, folks. Keep your eye on 13th Colony. Keep your eye on Georgia in general, but definitely keep your eye on 13th Colony. They're putting out some excellent product and this is a good example of exceptional product that they put out. I would highly recommend that you put them on your watch list, go on their website. If they have a sign up there to get notifications on releases, I would definitely go on and sign up for it. They're bourbon whiskey in general. They're dry whiskey in general. Excellent. Wonderful. We love it. It's so good. Uh, their special release here, the 3,200 bottles of, uh, of this double looked whiskey that came out just fantastic. Wonderful. So keep an eye on 13th colony folks. All right.

Brian, I just want one last sip. I've got a little sip left. All right. I'm enjoying it. Cheers. One more time. Cheers. Yum. Yum. So, so good.

All right. So next on our list, uh, another Georgia distillery, another Georgia darling, just so happens, Georgia's kicking butt and then see AA this year, Brian, and even without their star tight end. What do you think about that?

Well, you weren't very happy the other, the other week when they were.

Yeah.

As a Kentucky fan, typically the middle of the season, you don't enjoy a whole lot and that's cause you're in the meat of your schedule. You know, you have to play Georgia. You have to play Florida. You have to play Tennessee. You have to play Alabama or one of those schools. So Georgia is kicking butt.

Yeah. They just played Florida.

And I like, I like Georgia out of all the schools in the SCC. That is one of the schools I can get down with.

Except on the weekend they're playing Kentucky, right?

That's the one exception. I really liked Georgia during basketball season. It's usually a couple easy wins. You get them in the tournament, it's usually three easy wins. But in football, those guys, Kirby Smart. One of the best coaches ever. Fantastic person, but you're right that tight end Brock Bowers. He's unreal. Watch out NFL when he gets there. Uh, he's going to be on my fantasy team. Yeah, definitely. Definitely.

Yeah. I mean, I've been watching a little bit. I mean, I watched today, I watched a little bit of the, or yesterday I should say, watched a little bit of the, uh, the Georgia Florida game, watched a little bit of, uh, Louisville playing Duke.

That was a blowout. I heard Louisville looked pretty good. I don't watch those games, but I heard it went well for Louisville.

I was surprised to see, you know, them shut down what is normally a pretty damn good defense. So yeah, unreal. Just a lot of great things happening in Kentucky in football this year. I know both teams haven't had, uh, All the bright, shining thumbs up that they should have had, but I think it's pretty good years for Kentucky. One of our friends down at Western Kentucky, they do a great job.

Eastern Kentucky, man, those guys. They just win, they win in their conference and they are fantastic.

Yeah. Yeah. So good. So, so much fun. I really enjoy a good game. And we haven't, other than the, the week or so ago, we sat in the bar and watched the games on the television. We haven't had a chance to really sit down and enjoy a game together. No, we haven't. We need to do that.

And we need to do it.

And it shouldn't be the Kentucky Louisville game.

You know, that, that is, it's kind of like. politics. I don't talk about that game with a whole lot of people. Whether we win, lose or draw, there's so many things that go on. And when I started my own company here in Kentucky, I always told my clients, we can talk about anything you want to. But we're not talking to Kentucky Louisville because I knew most of my clients were Louisville fans. And I said, let's leave that on the table.

Well, thank goodness, Brian, that I'm not a fan of any one team. I'm not, I'm not a Cardinal fan. I'm not a Kentucky fan. I'm not a Buckeye fan. No, I just like watching good competitive football games and, um, I'll cheer for whoever, you know, put it this way. If I'm watching a football game today and there's a Kentucky team playing, I'll cheer for them. That's your team. I'll cheer for them. Absolutely. Uh, but if it's Kentucky and Louisville cheering and playing, I'm not sure. I'm not sure what I'm going to choose, but.

Yeah. I mean, you wouldn't hurt my feelings if you said Louisville.

Yeah. All right, Brian. So next in our glass is a whiskey. It's not a bourbon. Uh, but this whiskey is not quite as dark as the last one, but it is, it does have a good amber color to it. So this is another Georgia whiskey. This is out of Atlanta. This is ASW distillery. They were on the show a couple of weeks back and, uh, this particular whiskey is, uh, is what you call an Irish pot still whiskey. But you can't really call it an Irish whiskey unless it's made in Ireland legally. Just like you can't call a bourbon a bourbon unless it's made in the United States. Irish style. Irish style. This is an Irish style whiskey. It's made in the style of single pot still whiskey. There's a little bit of a story behind that. And if you listen to past episodes, where we've had single pot still whiskeys on. You're already familiar with this fact, but I'm going to, I'm going to go over it again for those who are not familiar with it. A single pot still Irish whiskey is kind of a category of its own. And it came about a couple hundred years ago when the Irish people were being taxed by England because England was a Well, it was basically in charge, let's just say.

Be in England.

That's right. They were be in England. And the Irish people were subservient to the King of England and the King of England decided that he wanted to tax the Irish people. And the best way to tax them was to tax their whiskey, right? And their whiskey was made from malted barley. Well, he said, well, if I'm going to tax their whiskey, the best way to do that is to tax them on the amount of malted barley that they have. Well, the Irish people are actually kind of smart. and they figured a way around it. And what they decided was is that, well, we can probably make whiskey out of non-malted barley too, at least a portion of it. So they started making whiskey out of a combination of malted barley and unmalted barley, only paying tax on the malted barley. So it reduced the tax significantly and made their whiskey cheaper to make. And the result of that was a single pot still Irish whiskey. And it became so common and throughout the country that it became a new category and actually became actually a flavor profile that the Irish people preferred. Well, we're now making this in the United States. It's called an Irish style whiskey and it's made by a number of distilleries in the U S and it's called a single pot still Irish whiskey. This one is triple distilled. This comes from ASW distillery in Atlanta, Georgia. And if you listen to a past episode, you know, they have three separate locations in Atlanta. This particular whiskey is a 49% alcohol, 98 proof, which is a little bit high for an Irish whiskey or an Irish style whiskey. It's called Druid Hill. It is made in the U S but it's made with barley and malt from South Ireland. So basically this is a, an Irish malt whiskey, but made in the U S pretty cool stuff. Very cool. Yeah. Druid Hill out of ASW distillery, Atlanta, Georgia. Cheers, Brian. Cheers. No, that's a different animal. Oh, it's so nutty and fruity at the same time. Just shy of a hundred proof malted barley all day long, but I'm not and fruit fruit.

Uh, what is the fruit?

Like a pear.

It's pretty sweet for me. It's sweet.

Yeah, it is sweet. It's, it's kind of like, um, I'd be like a fig. It definitely has kind of a fig flavor to it.

I always feel like, you know, the, the fig, the fig Newton type flavor profile separates itself a little bit for me. I do get that. But that doesn't mean that it's right. I mean, we just, we're coming off of 136, so I could be a little, a little shaky here.

Yeah. I mean, it's, it's got a little bit of like, uh, like a vanilla sugar, vanilla flavor to it. It's kind of, uh, maybe like a creamy, like a creme brulee kind of thing. Um, it does have a little bit of fruit to it, but it would be a lighter fruit, like a pear or a peach. No, not a peach, more like a pear. I think, um, just really like light. Succulent.

Just a, just a good soft whiskey. Going back to the nose. I thought it was so pleasant. You know, when you, and, and I really enjoyed that, uh, 13th colony, but when you're coming off of that and you really want something that that's a nice transition, a little bit lower proof, the nose on this was so pleasant. It was like, okay, like this is, this is the right transition and, uh, not overpowering. It's sweet. Uh, but you can definitely tell. It's a little bit different and it's off the beaten path from what we think, you know, from the normal whiskey bourbon profile.

Yeah. You know, I was saying earlier, like, uh, I was saying it was nutty, but the more I think about it, it's more like, um, or like a pumpkin seed instead of like, you know what I mean? Like a light kind of a, yeah. I mean, like, like a pumpkin seed or a sunflower seed.

You know, this, this is another little tangent here, but every time around this year, around this time of year, you know, we're looking at Halloween, we're looking at all the fall festivals and all the fun stuff. Well, pumpkins are right there. Every time I see a beer that is a pumpkin beer, I get so excited.

I do. I get excited.

And every time I drink one, I am so disappointed and I fall for the trap. Every single year.

And what's the trap? I mean, that you think pumpkin and beer should go together and you don't really go together.

I mean, it's the time of year there's a place that, and I won't name it and I won't name the beer, but there's a place that we go as a family every year. It's the same, same brewery, same release. And I'm like, it's going to be good this year. Yeah. Go in, grab it. And I'm like, oh, first drink.

Like, why did I do that again? So let me ask you. Like five years in a row. Have you had a pumpkin beer you like? I haven't. So do you think maybe it's just like, there's not a pumpkin beer you're going to like?

I think it's probably time to give up, but there's that, there's that eternal hope that it's going to be okay. And, uh, just doesn't seem to work out.

Well, I think, I think Irish style whiskies are a nice, uh, side road to take folks. For me, it is something that I really enjoy. Irish pasta whiskies like Taunua. Um, they're just delightful. They're wonderful. They're soft. They do have that kind of nutty quality to them. A little bit of, uh, a little bit of fruitiness to them. Uh, but you know, they're, they're altogether different from a Scotch or traditional Irish whiskey.

really that not as much Pete.

Yep. Yeah. They're, they're just, they're just wonderful tastefully done, uh, delightful whiskeys. And I would say, uh, if you get a chance to try an Irish single pot still whiskey, and that's, that's really the key here. Uh, it changes the flavor profile and it's something to try. This particular one here is triple distilled. It's an Irish style single pasta whiskey out of ASW distillery in Atlanta, Georgia. I think they've done it justice. I think they've done a great job in producing it. It is something that's right around $60 a bottle. Fair price. And, uh, it's wonderful. It's really good. ASW has a great distribution. I can't name off all the States, but they have a nice, decent distribution of the whiskeys and I would highly recommend people give them a shot. This one in particular is, uh, well, I would, I would rank it right up there with town Noah and they've been on the show a couple of times to pretty good stuff.

It's good stuff.

Yeah.

I just like, uh, I really liked the flavor profile on this one. I like how easy, it's a very smooth, easy drink. So if you're looking for something that isn't going to be too overpowering, this is a nice, nice, smooth drink to have. The hot, hot land tonight. Oh yeah. Hot line of night. My goodness.

This would be good.

This is a Braves game. Yeah. Yeah.

Yeah, absolutely. Yeah. Actually, I think ASW partners with the Braves on a number of their releases. So they're not going to partner on the Irish style whiskey, but, but if, if, if you need something a little bit different one night at a Braves game, I would say definitely grab this one.

That'd be pretty cool if there was a bottle with the Braves logo on it. I don't know if they have any of those, but. I know I would love to have one of those on my liquor cabinet.

So Brian, you got a friend that's playing in the, that's managing in the major leagues now, right?

I do. I have a friend that, uh, is the bench coach for the Cubs currently. And, uh, he's held a number of positions and played in the big leagues and played the minor leagues and, uh, just fantastic guys names Andy green and. You know, as we talk about so many of the distilleries that just do it the right way, Andy just does it the right way. He does not sacrifice his beliefs or who he is for anybody at any time. Uh, and I'm, I'm always proud of it. I talked to him last week and, uh, You know, it's so cool to have those people in your life that you can just always say, you know what? I don't want anything. I don't need anything. I'm just proud of you.

Yeah.

And, uh, and I've been blessed to have so many people like that in my life. But man, from the time that I watched him in, uh, Babe Ruth baseball all the way through high school to he's the all time hits leader at the university, Kentucky. And then when he played minor leagues, I was there the first year he played minor leagues, got to watch him. When he got called up, I flew straight up to Baltimore to be there with him. He didn't play, but then, uh, you know, just watched him all the way through every level. And how much fun like, wow, that's pretty cool stuff. Super fun.

Yeah. All right, folks. Well, ASW Distillery, Atlanta, Georgia, definitely should be on your radar. If you're traveling up and down I-75 through Atlanta, if you get into the land on business, definitely take a minute, head out to one of their locations, three locations in Atlanta, check them out. Uh, they just have, uh, they have a real eye on quality, a great selection of spirits. I want to say they're going to have, uh, six or seven whiskeys in their, uh, in their portfolio. And they've got, uh, in particular right now, they've got that, um, toasted series. That's just amazing. And they are partnering. I love toasted.

Don't you love toast?

I do. I do. I absolutely love it. And they are partnering with the Braves on their toasted series. So they've got one out. It was on a couple episodes back. It's just a great expression. So definitely check them out. Brian, I have had such a good time today. It's good time for us to get back together and sort of reset, have a few whiskeys, catch up on our samples that have come in. That's right. And we're getting ready to head back on the road here real soon. A couple of Iowa distilleries in our sights. We've got an author and a book coming on real soon.

That'll be fun. That one is right up my alley.

Yeah. I know it is. I know it is. You and I are going to have fun with that. So folks, we've got a lot of great stuff coming up. Make sure you stick with us. Uh, Brian, where can people find us on the internet?

So you can find us on Facebook, Instagram, Sometimes on TikTok, not as much as we would like to be, but we're going to get that going at some point. Twitter, and we have our Facebook group. The Bourbon Roadies. The Bourbon Roadies.

Definitely check out the Bourbon Roadies, folks. It's a private Facebook group. We've got about 3,200 members. Come on, check us out. Just search on Facebook for The Bourbon Roadies. Uh, if you choose to join, you'll get hit with three different questions. Do you like bourbon? Uh, do you understand you're getting yourself into a bourbon group, right? Because, uh, that's what we are. Do you agree to play nice? Because we don't want anybody in there. Just, uh, chopping anybody off at the knees for what they're drinking. Just have fun. Everybody likes what they like. Don't, uh, don't slam anybody for what they're drinking. Come in and have a good time.

Don't get mad at me when I mixed diet coke with my papi.

Do you do that?

No, I don't. I didn't think so.

But if you did, people should leave you alone because you're happy, right?

That's right. I bought it.

Absolutely. All right. Well, we do a show every single week on Wednesdays. We'll have somebody on. We'll have a guest on. We'll have a music artist or something. You know, we'll have a good time. We'll talk about a distillery tonight. We've had some samples on. It's just Brian and I. But every week it's a great show. We're having a good time. We're giving you the information you need to choose what whiskey you should be drinking next. Definitely make sure you scroll up to the top of that app you're listening to us on. Hit that subscribe button so that every single week you'll get a notification saying, Jim and Brian, them two jokers, they've got another show out. I need to listen to it. We'd love to have you every single week. Brian, we have a website too, right? We do. And we sell a little bit of swag on there.

The bourbonroad.com and we do have some swag and you know, those bourbonista shirts. Unreal. You talk about hot. They are selling like crazy. They were big at, uh, bourbon on the banks. And I'll tell you what, they're, they're solid.

They are. We've got the new, uh, bourbon flag shirt, which is, uh, bourbon is 100% American. They've been going good. We've got our Glencairns and our Dick Cantors and our Flasks and all that good stuff, our Bourbon Road hats. We hope you guys come onto our website and check all that stuff out. When you buy something on the bourbonroad.com, you help Brian and I get down to the road to that next distillery. Like next week, we're going to be traveling out to Iowa. We're going to hit a distillery or two out there. We're going to bring them to you. We're going to let you know what we think about those Iowa distilleries. Underwriting those trips and those, those, uh, adventures we go on is, uh, is all as a result of our listeners, you know, taking time to jump into our store and buying a shirt or a hat or a, or a glass or whatever it is. It helps us get down the road. Yeah.

You know, one thing that was, uh, not to bring up bourbon on the banks too many more times, but one of the things that was interesting, I had that question several times. Where does the money go? Like, why are you selling all this? Like, why do you do this? And the very honest and simple answer is it helps to pay for the things that we want to do for the bourbon road so that we can continue to have these relationships. So to set up the tent at bourbon on the banks, to be able to have the bourbon roadies bar. And to be able to travel to these distilleries and, and do these things that that's where the money goes. Like this is, uh, this is definitely not our full-time job. You know, Brian, this is our fun.

This is a hobby does we're doing it because we love it. We just like to see that it pays for itself.

We love the industry.

Yeah.

Love it. What a wonderful thing. Great people.

Yeah. All right. Well, we'll have a show next week, folks. Make sure you're tuning in. If you haven't subscribed, make sure you jump up to the top of your app and you do that. We'll be sure to come back next week with another great show. But in the meantime, we'll see you down the bourbon road.

you