38. Third Pour - Fifty Dollar Blind Bottle Challenge

Hey, from the Bourbon Road team, I think we want to get everybody in the room together here at Paul's house and say Happy New Year!

Welcome to another trip down the Bourbon Road with your hosts, Jim and Mike. So grab a glass of your favorite bourbon and kick back.

We would like to thank Tommy and Gwen Mitchell from Log Heads Home Center for supporting this episode of the Bourbon Road. Find out more about their fine rustic furniture at logheadshomecenter.com. Oh, and welcome to the Bourbon Road. My name's Jim Shannon. And I'm Mike Hyatt. And today, Mike, where are we? We're over at Paul's house, and we're with Paul and Troy in Jaytown.

It's, what, about 10 miles southeast of Louisville? Small neighborhood in Louisville, yeah.

Well, Paul and Troy, welcome to the show. It's good to have you.

Good to be here.

You guys ready to drink some bourbon tonight?

Absolutely.

Ready? Are you ready to laugh? Are you ready to laugh? Absolutely. All right. Well, we've got kind of a special show tonight. We've done a couple of these in the past. We call these a third pour episode. And the reason we do that is because normally in our episodes we do two ports. We do a first half and a second half where we've got a guest on and we'll bring a bottle of something and we'll drink it and talk about it and have an interview with the guest and then we'll take a break in the middle and there's a second half. the guest will have brought a bottle and we'll taste their bottle and we'll drink it. So that's first pour and second pour. So every now and then we'll do one of these shows we call the third pour. And this is just where we drink more than two or three or four bourbons. So tonight we're going to drink four.

Mike, what's our little deal we're doing here? Everybody brought a bottle, right? Our wives poured them into A, B, C, and D. Is that right? A, B, C, and D? Yeah. But we'll nose them. We'll taste them and see what the finish is. We'll score them and we'll see who the winner is.

So every bourbon that we drink gets a score of one to ten.

One to ten. Yep.

A five is just middle of the road. A zero is absolute swill. Don't want to drink it. And a 10 is, what's 10, Mike? It's like sex.

Man, he's got that on his mind tonight, Daddy Troy. I thought this was a kid friendly show. Once my wife shows up.

All right. So these bottles are between $45 and $55 on the shelf.

And we came up with that at a bar drinking is how we came up with that.

Yeah, we were at, where were we at? The Blind Squirrel. The Blind Squirrel. Okay.

Real great bar with a volleyball court out back and stuff. And if people are on the bourbon trail, that's somewhere they definitely want to stop by. And if you just want to kick back and watch a volleyball game or grab a couple beers or some bourbon, great place to go.

So this is just a bourbon night amongst friends. We've actually got an audience with us tonight. All our wives are here sort of spectating. Hope they don't get us laughing too much. So we actually have our first bourbon in the glass now and we don't know who brought this. We don't know anything about it. We just know it's letter A. cost between $45 and $55, and it's a bourbon, right? Guy, can we confirm they're all bourbons? There's no Rye's? Nope. No Rye's, no American whiskeys. These are all bourbons. All bourbon, bourbon. All right. Good deal.

We do have a prize for tonight. Yeah. Since our wives are here and pouring for us and helping us out. We had the bourbon seller there in Shelbyville. They donated a bottle of the screwball peanut butter whiskey for us. Um, take a couple shots of that, some bourbon cream and some root beer. Make yourself a nice little cocktail or a dessert.

Maybe not my thing, but, uh, are you allergic to peanuts?

No, I'm not allergic.

It says on the bottle has peanuts in it. So I'm just saying. Yeah. No, I never thought of mixing peanut butter and whiskey before, but I guess they mix it with anything, don't they? I think it'd make a good dessert drink, you know? Kind of the new thing, I guess.

Yeah.

All right. Trying to be with these hipsters, you know? So what's the craziest whiskey you guys have drunk? Have you had a cinnamon whiskey or an apple whiskey or a honey whiskey? Oh, sure. Yeah, I've had all those.

Cinnamon. Yeah, cinnamon. It used to be a Friday night routine. Fireball Friday? Fireball Friday.

I've had a couple of those.

Now, what's the one with Wild Turkey Makes One? Is it American Honey? American Honey. Have you had that before?

Yep, absolutely. You like that? That's pretty good.

See, I think that's something I might be able to get behind is American Honey, especially if it's coming from Wild Turkey, Mike.

Well, you hear Jimmy Russell talk about that and it's surprising that he's the one that had that idea. for American honey and, you know, for our listeners that don't know who Jimmy Russell is, he's their master distiller, right? He's been there since forever.

Yeah. Yeah. He's been there, well, a lot of years. I don't know how long.

I think he, he's like, I thought about putting honey and whiskey one day and you know, and somebody said, Oh, that's a good idea. We can sell that. And next thing you know, they're having American honey on the shelf. I mean, I wish I had a company like that where I said, Hey, this is a good idea. Let's put it on the shelf.

Well, fellas, we normally get to the whiskey pretty quick. This time we're jibber-jabbering a lot. What do you think? You want to get to that whiskey? Let's do it. All right. This is whiskey A. Let's, uh, let's try it and see what we think. It's got a sweet nose.

I smell a lot of oak in that. You smell the oak? Troy's over there already sipping on it. He's like, man, I got to taste this.

Oh, that's very rich, very rich, very, very deep and kind of a little dark. It's actually really dark color too. Very dark color.

All three, the other three, you know, you set them up, sitting on table there, you can, they almost look alike. Um, but this one was definitely super dark.

That's good.

Very good. What do you think, Mike? Is that a weeder?

I don't think it is a weeder. I think it's a, get a little bit of peppery on the back end on that.

So you ever taste anything like that, Paul?

Yeah, it's a little, a little warmer than I expected on the tail end for sure.

If I had to guess the proof on this, it's, it's above a hundred. It's above a hundred. Yeah. And I'm, I'm, I'm the odd guy out.

I'm thinking it's like a Matty and I'm well, I think Paul's a weeded bourbon tattoo. So I don't think it's all that super strong or anything.

Any guests on the distillery? I'm thinking this is Woodford.

Troy, what do you think? I don't have a clue.

It's good. I don't know if we can get Troy to talk. He's over there sweating.

Well, he'll be, he'll be opening up here in a minute with the size of that poor hand he had there. Oh yeah. Yeah.

So Troy, where was your, uh, what's your like first, um, bourbon you tasted? Can you remember that far back?

That far back? Probably. Well, you wanted to be bourbon the first experience.

Now you're a military guy, right? Yes.

So was it military force before that? When I was in the military, I wasn't as smart about my alcohol intake. So I drink other stuff other than bourbon. Overseas, you just kind of drink what's available. I probably didn't really get into it a lot until I got back from overseas and my mom worked at Buffalo Trace. And I just kind of always kind of tried to stay with that, just to stay loyal to her.

So what'd she do at Buffalo Trace?

Well, she worked on the line for several years and then she was a line captain. And at the end of it, she still just worked on the bottling line until she retired October 1st.

So when you went into that little brick house there, the bowling room they have, that's where she was working at inside there. Yes. Man, that's pretty awesome. I probably saw your mama almost. I should have said, hey, Troy's mom.

But I was partial to her. I just started drinking Buffalo Trace and Eagle Rares. Stuff from there because just being loyal to her because she raised me and I wanted to be, it's kind of my payback. Brand loyalty. Help keep her in business.

Now, what about you? We were talking earlier and you said you've been over to that tour several times.

Took several tours, some of the small ones. And that's what helped me too, because whenever I just used to drink before I knew any better and I would just, you know, I'd have like a bourbon and Coke. So I'd always just drink Beam and Coke, Beam and Coke on the bar. And being on the tour and talking to Freddie there, Buffalo Trace, he said, you need to mix it with Sprite. You need to stay with something clear. And you need to keep your bourbon in the freezer. So we started doing that and I went from, you know, doing it with Sprite and Ginger Ale and now I've taken it down to just like club soda and peri-A water if I do mix it with anything.

Now, Freddie, he's quite the personality now, isn't he? He is. Yeah.

His story about how he got to Buffalo, Buffalo trace started working. There's a pretty awesome story too, but as dad worked there and he got, he came back to Buffalo trace and, um, obviously I like those stories and stuff. And Buffalo traces definitely got a storied past and they're actually digging up the past there too. They got that new Pompeii urban upon pay to her stuff. And we actually talked about that yesterday a little bit. I just, I love the history there. Um, and then they're bringing that history back.

Yeah, we got to see that my company that I worked for actually, my boss wanted to buy a barrel of Buffalo Trace. So they came up from some guys from Texas and Atlanta and Paul went with me and there was about 12 of us. And we got to go on like a hard hat tour and just see everything. behind the scenes, even tasting it out of the vat. And we got to see all that stuff and that was really interesting. Did you get his barrel? We got to choose from, we went down after the tour and everything and we had four barrels to choose from. And we. We all tasted, you know, it was blind again and we all tasted the four and then we eliminate one and got it down to where the barrel that we all agreed on, tasting it foolproof and watered down to the proper proof. And it was a fun experience and we all got several bottles of Buffalo Trace out of it.

So that was a Buffalo Trace pick then? Yes. Now did your barrel get picked? Was it the one you liked the best?

Well, we all had to agree on it. And so when it got down to the final two, I think the one I picked was the one we ended up with. Yeah.

Yeah. Sometimes you get a little proud when you're doing those barrel picks, you know, you're like, that's mine. I hope everybody else votes for it.

It was funny. It was easy. It was easy to eliminate the first one right away. Yep.

Absolutely. What was your first bourbon? Well, I'll be honest with you. You know, I'm from Pittsburgh and I just started drinking bourbon probably about 10 to 12 years ago.

I didn't know you were from Pittsburgh. We're down here in this yellow and black basement. I didn't know you were from Pittsburgh.

Yeah. So, uh, so I was, you know, I've lived in Kentucky since 1990. Uh, so I figured, eh, what better time to start? I need to start drinking bourbon and now that's pretty much all I drink. Uh, I used to be a big beer guy and now I drink bourbon all the time. So what's your like go-to go-to bourbon every day? Well, our special reserve.

Yeah, there's nothing wrong with that, right? Yeah. I think he gets a bad rap. Um, really, uh, it's hard to find. So, you know, I guess good bourbon drinkers or, you know, guys are educated. They know what they're getting, but I think that's what I drink all the time. You know, I got a couple of bottles at the house and I had a couple of friends come over one time and they're all sitting around our pub table drinking. And I come home the next day and I was like, man, I need some of that special reserve today. And I only had one bottle at the time. And, uh, I come home and they put it back up on the shelf empty. I got in the house. I looked at it and I was like, man, it just broke my heart. I told my wife, I said, I think I'm just going to go to bed.

Well, guys, what do you say we score this first one and then we'll pour letter B and come back and talk about it a little bit. Yeah. Sound good? Sounds great. Okay. So we've all scored our bourbons now. And what'd you guys think about the first one? Good? I thought it was good. Better than average, you think? I thought it was an excellent bourbon.

I do, too. Definitely better than average.

Yeah, that was a good bourbon. Now, we've got letter B in our glass now. So this is the second bourbon. And I can tell you already, it's nowhere near as dark as the first one. Oh, it's not even close. Not even close. Probably a little bit younger. Yeah. I don't know. Should we go ahead and, uh, try a little bit of it? Let's do it.

Let's go. Now we should say that this is, uh, the, this episode right here is a New Year's Eve, right?

Is this the, yeah, this episode, New Year's day releases on New Year's day. Yeah.

So happy new year. Yeah. Happy new year. Cheers. Cheers. I gotta say, down here in this yellow and black basement, it's almost hard to drink bourbon, but that might be one of the ugliest Christmas trees I've ever seen with all that stiller stuff.

I take pride in that Christmas tree.

I could see that.

There's a lot of pride in there. There's a lot of top 100 players on that tree. Top 100 players. Of the NFL and NHL for that matter.

You got the Cowboys players hidden on the back?

I don't see a single Cowboy player on there.

Mike, you're going to have to get a picture of that tree.

I am. Make your own dartboard with it.

I was going to say Charlie Brown would be awful proud of that thing.

Now, Paul, tell us a little bit about your bar. That's a labor of love, right? You built it over time or did you put it up pretty quick?

You know, we moved in here in 2000. And by 2001, we had that in there. It was completely, you know, they only had one room made with a bathroom finished. And then we built the bar and probably the best money we have ever spent.

Yeah. You have a few parties here, huh?

We have a couple. Yeah. Paul, I'm watching your wife's face. You know, she might disagree with you. Best money ever spent.

She's like, yeah. You heard me talk about her. She likes to throw the parties too, so. Yeah.

Yeah. It is quite the bar. I mean, you got a nice beer fridge that's stocked. A plethora, a plethora of bourbon over there. Nice bourbons too.

and everything in between, right? Yeah. The nice thing about it, you know, you see the memorabilia when guys come over, you know, and they see it next time they come over, they'll donate stuff to put up on the, up on the wall or donate bourbons for the bar. That's a good gig.

Yeah, I don't care what kind of, you know, what team you root for, whether it's, you know, Louisville Cardinals or Tucky Wildcats or the Pittsburgh Steelers or Dallas Cowboys. You know, if you're a sports fan, you're a sports fan and you still appreciate great teams, especially Steelers. You know what? Dallas and Pittsburgh have a love hate relationship. So, uh, You know, you, you still gotta respect that team. They're, they're, they're kind of the hard hat blue collar guys. That was about Dallas guys too, is that's a hard hat team. You know, they're not a pretty franchise or nothing. Dallas and the Steelers have both come way up, you know, rich teams now, but they're still blue collar teams. Yep. I agree.

And there's a few teams that are bigger than their borders, right? Dallas is one of them. Pittsburgh is one of them. The Packers, you know, they've got a few teams out there. They just, they garner fans from across the nation. Yep. And then the rest of them kind of... Draw locally, I think, pretty much. So you guys got any idea what you think the proof on this one might be?

This is definitely lower proof than the first one. No doubt about it. If I were to guess, I would say probably, you know, a little over 90.

Yeah, between 90 and 100. Definitely.

I don't know. I think that rye whiskey must've messed me up today. Before we came over here, me and Jim are sipping on cask strength rye that's 125 proof. And it is a great whiskey. But maybe that messed my palate up. I don't know.

Mike, you've ever tasted one like this one before? It's kind of unique a little bit. Very floral.

No pepper on that back end. I don't think. Everybody say hi Vivian's here. My wife finally showed up. Hi Vivian. Hi Vivian. Better late than never.

Better late than never.

This is a younger bourbon, I think. Maybe got some honeysuckle in it a little bit there.

And you said floral. I was thinking flowers.

Yeah, that's what I was saying about that honeysuckle. You got that sweet aroma in the air when you walk down a road and you got all that honeysuckle right there near you. You kind of smell that.

So any of you guys going out to the liquor barn raffle?

Tomorrow morning, I'm not sure if I am. I'll have to see how tonight goes, but I do do the raffles quite often.

Well, so this is like the one we went to the other day was a lottery where they drew you out of a hat. And this one was just line up and get your bottle.

Yeah, I'd say there's 400 to 500 people in a very small liquor store, overcrowded. And the announcer that was telling the numbers wasn't very loud. So actually, me and Jim and our whole group were sitting way in the back. And I actually had to scream to the guy and said, hey, speak up for us so we could hear the numbers. And we probably had I think a group of eight people there, Jim. And we only got one bottle out of those eight people. And I think they only had 70-something bottles altogether. And some of them were just regular old bottles you can find anywhere. I think they had five bottles of Pappy altogether. I wouldn't say it was disappointing, but it wasn't organized like Liquor Barn or some of the other places. Total Wine has theirs organized.

And this was Lucky's Market, right?

Yeah. And maybe that was one of their first ones. Maybe they did one last year. They did one last year as well. I think they got a lot to learn. Yeah.

I'm thinking this one's got a little bit higher malt content in it. Are you picking up any of that malt, Mike?

I actually think this is a weeder because there is no pepper on the back end. Yeah. But somebody said there are some store picks in here, so I don't know. That's hard to tell. I definitely get a wheat though. Yeah.

I think this has got a little bit of unique flavor to it. It's either a single barrel pick or something that I haven't had in a while, in a minute.

That punch on the back end is not there. You know, it's just not there for me.

Not one of my favorites.

Yeah.

Yeah. It's short, very short. It is, and a little bit of ethanol on the finish too. So in a nutshell, I would say this is a little bit younger, a little bit thinner, a little bit short on the finish. Yeah. But, um, it has that really nice floral kind of a little, little fruity, but mostly floral, um, upfront. And it, it kind of a little malty too.

Maybe it's some cut fresh fruit, like a pear or something that might be in there. I'm not something like that. It's there. Stone fruit. What is a stone fruit? I don't even know what that is. So Troy, what do you, uh, you said you were in the air force. How long did you serve in the air force? About four years. Four years. And then you got out, you're from here in Kentucky? Yes, from Henry County. From Henry County. For everybody that's kind of north east of Louisville right up I-71. Yes. Up there. They got some good deer hunting up there.

They got a distillery up in Henry County. I thought they did.

I think Peerless built, that's where they built their rick houses at, is up in Henry County.

There's something going on out there near Six Mile, but it's still, it's not open yet. Yeah. Every time I drive by.

Yeah. I think Perlis is building some Rick houses out in Hendrick.

I think he built six Rick houses out there is where he's building his Rick houses. And I think, uh, rabbit hole, I want to say built Rick houses out there. And I want to say bullet was gonna, that's, they were gonna put their new distillery out there. And I don't know if the townspeople out there in the small town out there didn't want it or so they moved on over to Shelby County and that's where they built their new distillery out there in Shelbyville. I don't know. Have you guys been out there to bullet? No, I haven't. It is. It is amazing looking place and stuff. And I can see they've got a future out there. I don't know what it is, but their distillery grounds are absolutely beautiful. Wide open, nice tasting room and stuff. It's nice to see Shelby County kind of get into the bourbon game.

My mother-in-law is a big bullet drinker, so maybe I'll take her out there.

Beautiful. Nice bar there to create drinks and stuff. You know, it's, it's nice. See, obviously Shelby County's also got Jeff, the Creed right off the interstate there. They're a little bit smaller than bullet bullets. They're putting out some juice. I think you'd probably go anywhere in America and see bullet on the shelf.

That's a big operation. I think they were actually. when they were building the distillery and starting to make their own juice, I think they were sourcing from four roses. I think I had heard at one time or another. Um, you know, cause they were filling a lot of bottles. Those guys were really putting out a lot of juice, but yeah, I guess, uh, New Year's Eve, we're going to be out at Jeff, the Creed, right?

Mike. Yeah, we're going to be, I guess, dressed up as gangsters, roaring 20s to kind of go with prohibition.

Yeah. So yeah, so for those who might be around and might be in town in the Louisville area, so Jeff the Creed is having a roaring 20s New Year's Eve party at the distillery there. And I think it's $50. And it includes cocktail and some hors d'oeuvres and stuff like that, but certainly a party.

I just get in a truck and Vivian tells me, hey, load up, you're going this place.

I don't complain any of that stuff.

I just go, Paul, here in Jaytown, where's your local hangout?

Oh, we've got actually quite a few, you wouldn't believe. We've got the third term. It's a brewery, but then right beside it, they opened up a new place that's just nothing but bourbon. They've probably got about 300 bourbons there now. Right up the street from that is Rec Bar. Rec Bar has a fantastic selection. I bet they have over 200 bourbons there. You can get in either place, you can get top of the line. What's the best restaurant to eat in Jaytown? Jaytown, the best to eat at? Probably Feast. You know, we've got Feast up there on the corner. Barbecue, if you like barbecue. As far as, you know, closed in town here, you're talking just regular old food.

Yeah, Jaytown. Barbecue sounds awesome. Look at me, I'm a big old fat guy.

Yeah, I mean, in Jaytown, that's probably the best, you know, as far as, you know, barbecue, a good dinner.

And they've got a few bourbons there too. Oh, yeah. They've got quite a few selection there.

It's not bad. They even have the slushy bourbons. You can get a bourbon slushy.

Yeah. So what do they put in a bourbon slushy? I can't remember which bourbon it is.

I think it's Kentucky Tavern. Yeah. Kentucky Tavern, huh? But it's good. I know that.

Yeah. So, I mean, what, what is the other things, not bourbon in a bourbon slushie?

Is it like lemonade and... No, I think it's ice, just ice and bourbon and maybe, you know, I know it's the L8. Oh, L8-1. Yeah. L8, L8. Yep.

Gina, Gina will be proud of that. She works for Vindome. She was, she was, she's a veteran and she came on our veteran episode and she's their purchasing agent, but she likes drinking bourbon with a little LA one. And I tried to get LA one to be, you know, she should be their national spokesperson.

I think you're on a mission to mention Gina in every show we have. She was quite, she was, she was pretty funny.

Yeah, the last one I had to actually have a slushy though that's orange flavored too. Okay. It's bourbon with orange. It tasted like a dreamsicle with bourbon in it. That was pretty nice in the summertime.

Yeah. Well, we might have to get back out there and try some when it's warms up a little bit, have a little barbecue and some bourbon slushies. That sounds good.

Yeah, you can really just walk the street, Jaytown, and there's the beach on the one end and they have pretty good bourbon selection in that. And it's an outdoor volleyball set up. Then you got the third turn, then you got feast, and then you have the rec bar all within walking distance. And all of them have, you know, a solid bourbon selection.

So people were on a bourbon trail. They're trying to get a break from downtown. They're here for like a week or so and visiting little others. A lot to do outside of downtown, isn't there? Absolutely. Then you call Uber. Call Uber?

Yeah, definitely call Uber. All right, guys, so should we take a few minutes and score this one and move on down the road? Let's do it.

Sounds good.

Okay, fellas, so we have all recorded our scores of Bourbon B. And we have now poured bourbon C in our glass. Any last thoughts on bourbon B before we move on?

I'm glad we moved on.

Yeah.

Yeah, you weren't a big fan of it, Troy. You think maybe you brought that one, Troy?

I hope not. He's like, God dang, I'm embarrassed. The one I brought, I never have had it, so.

So you never had had yours before? What about you, Paul? You had the bourbon that you had brought? Yes. You'd had it before? Yeah. What about you, Jim?

Yeah, I've had the one I brought.

Yeah, the one I brought, I looked at some new ones and I was like, man, should I get this? Should I get that? I actually went to three different liquor stores and talked to the owners or their managers there and said, hey, this is what I'm doing. And I kept reaching for something different. And then I went back to an old faithful and said, hey, this is what I'm coming with. So you really want to win this thing, don't you? Well, last time I brought the first time I came on the show, I brought chicken cock. And that's just cause I was being a smart ass. I was like, I want to hear these guys say chicken cock on, on the podcast. And it took them a while to say it too. Nobody else wanted to say it. So I'd say, I brought chicken cock. But chicken cock actually has, it wasn't chicken cock. It was a fighting cock. Fighting cock.

I think it did all right. I think it took fourth place.

It took third place. Two co-hosts.

I got fighting cock over there. It stays over there. I'm not crazy about the fighting cock.

They made that to compete with wild turkey.

That's the crazy thing about it. I mean, I got a whole handle if you're really into it.

No, I actually left that bottle over Jim's house. He's a right guy. What was the other cock you said? Oh, that's... No.

Seriously. Chicken cock. Chicken cock. Now that one I saw.

No, chicken cock is from... That's expensive. That's an old brand. Yeah. Very old brand. And it's made by Barstown Bourbon Company, who makes it. I think it's... Are they contracted still, Jill?

Yeah, I'm not real sure about it. I do know that I haven't had the current expression of it, so I can't really speak on it that much. But I've heard good and bad.

I got a, I got a bottle for my birthday. That's what you told me at the, uh, at the, uh, uh, Jeff, the creed distillery out there. And we're, you know, somebody brings that and we're out there just having a great time. And I, I was feeling pretty good that night. So I just whipped that thing out right there. The owners are all walking around out there and I'm just sucking on that thing. It's a model. How was it? It was all right. I, you know, I can't say I haven't revisited that bottle and it did go underneath my counter and you know, I'll bring it back out and revisit that thing. And, Try to enjoy it. I think that's the reserve, which is the lower end of that. Okay. It's probably a 40 or $50 bottle. And then the other stuff is like 110. Yeah.

It was outside the range high. Cause I remember you tell me about it.

I've seen it on the table before with a big price tag on it. I just passed it by.

It's a beautiful bottle that old bottle that has like the little shot glass on top of it. I think, you know, a lot of brands back then, um, we, we put a picture up of a bottle. It was old Rippy.

Uh, it was old Rip Van Winkle Van Winkle had that same bottle.

And I'm sure them companies just, Oh man, that's a cool bottle, but it's got a shot glass with a little, maybe I'm sure now it's probably an aluminum one, but back then it was probably pewter or something. Right. Yeah.

All right. So, uh, we're onto, uh, bourbon C here. What do you guys think about this? It reminds me of a, a little bit, but you know, a had just this enormous nose on it. It was really in your face and this is a little bit lighter. Yeah.

Yeah. With that question, it's lighter. You have to kind of search for it.

But it does remind me a little bit of it.

Yeah. I think it's oaky, a little bit oaky. I get that oak in there just a little bit. I wrote him down a little oak. I guess a little four notes on that nose, a little pepper, a little pepper on there.

Yeah.

I think it's spice cake. Kind of like spice cake. Yeah. What's that? What's a cookie? A gram, not a graham cracker, a ginger snap. There you go. Ginger snap cookie taste to it. And I want a big old glass of milk.

But let me tell you, I just tasted it. This is very sweet. Oh, you've already had it, Mike?

You guys, we're sitting here talking. I'm always sipping on whiskey, you know me. I can't ever wait to taste it. I'm so excited. When we go to a distillery or something, I just... I'm just Jones and I'm like, let's taste what you got. I've never tasted that before. Cause sometimes I can't afford that bottle. Um, you know, or I, I don't know if you don't want to buy it until you taste it. So somebody's gonna offer you a free taste of whiskey. Isn't that the best whiskey or best bourbon is free bourbon.

You want to do the tasting before tour?

Well, why waste your time? If you don't like it, why, why, why even go in there?

So what do you guys think about this?

It's, uh, I like it better than two. It's better than two.

It's got, it's got a nice Kentucky hug, doesn't it? Yeah. Yeah.

It's pepper. It's sweet, but it's got some pepper on the back end.

Does it remind you of anything?

You guys just never said store picks. Cause I, I'm thinking back this could this be wild? No, I'm trying to think of maybe a rare, rare breed.

Yeah. This is too sweet. I think so.

Yeah.

Yeah. I get a caramel spice cake, baking, baking spices, like, you know, nutmeg, sugar, cinnamon, just the whole array of it. It's really got a great palette. I think that's good.

It is good. I think this is over a hundred proof. I would agree. The back burner tells me that is very high ride, but it doesn't have that.

Like you said, it's got that sweetness to it. So I don't know. This has gotten me puzzled.

Well, I'm not trying to figure out who made it, but I do think that this is a rye bourbon. It might even be a little bit higher in the rye spectrum, maybe 15 to 20% rye.

It's kind of got that dry aftertaste to it.

The finish on this is longer than the other two, I think, at least for me. But that ethanol doesn't stick with you like A did. Yeah.

Troy, where do you go to eat at? You know, you're your wife.

The Village Anchor is one of our favorites. We try to go there at least once a month. They have an excellent bourbon selection at their bar.

They got some great old fashions there, don't they?

They have a bartender we met at the Bourbon Beyond Concerts. He knows how to make a good drink and he took care of us. Their food there is excellent too, right? Anytime somebody comes from out of town from my work, like they come up from Texas or whatever to visit, we always take them there.

What'd you think the first time they brought your check to you?

Oh, I knew what it was going to be. I see them in you. No, I'm talking about when they bring it out in like a romance novel. Oh, in a romance novel. Yeah, that's pretty crazy.

I thought the lady wanted me to read it. I was like, hey, I know all about romance. Which page?

She put my bill on that page for a reason.

Maybe she's trying to tell you something. Exactly. Take this book home and read it to your wife.

Is there a reason this is on page 15? Well, if they had highlighted stuff in there, but yeah.

Where else do you guys go? You got like a favorite little bar you go to?

Yeah, we go to Stoney river, but they have a good selection there, but that is definitely a treat to ourselves because they're a little expensive.

I'll say that it's probably one of the, to me, if I had to go to a steak house in Louisville, they'll put everybody else to shame in Louisville. And that's the big boys with Chris Ruth. Yeah. They just put it down there. And their service is great too.

I don't know if we just went out there by accident one time or just because it was convenient to where we live, but you get more bang for your buck there in my opinion, for sure. So they're better than Morton's?

I don't know. Me and Vivian have been to every steakhouse that seems like in America. I don't know. It'd be hard pressed to go against them. I need to get out there. There's service there that, you know, the staff there is always great. It, they, there's more than one of them. They're, I think it's a chain out of Georgia, but, uh, it's super nice steak house. Um, just, just great stakes. They got some great bourbon there too. Right.

You guys been to Jeff Ruby's?

Yeah.

So better than Jeff Ruby's too, huh?

And I don't know. I just, in my mind, I think, you know, and I think of a steak and I want it cooked. I'm a rare steak guy. I don't know how you eat your steak, Troy, but you just chop the horns off it, slap it on my ass and send it on out for me. I'm good. Um, that's what I think of a steak though. And they bring it out and it's perfect. And it's a good cut of meat. That's, that's a good steak house.

Let's do it sometime. I had a bartender, Jeff Ruby's, he, I ordered, I ordered my bourbon again to be loyal to my Buffalo Trace. And instead of coming back and saying that he didn't have it, he just brought something of his own choosing. This is similar to that. So I thought you might like it. And I didn't think that was cool, but I was, I wasn't rude about it then.

Probably came back and said, Hey, we don't, we're out of Buffalo Trace, which is almost a shame if you're in Kentucky and you don't have a bottle of that on the shift.

You know, I don't know if it was, I don't remember if it was Weller or Eagle Rare or what it was. I just know it was from that distillery and we were out of that. So I just brought you something that I thought was similar instead of coming back and asking me if I wanted to, you know, change it up something else.

You should have said on the house.

Great. Thanks. Troy, you didn't say how you ate your steak, man. I'm medium well. Oh my gosh. I'm sorry.

Man, that's, that's almost worse than being a Pittsburgh Steelers fan. I'm going up because I ate my medium well as well.

Really?

Yeah.

I grew up well done. So at least I've come down a little bit, a little bit of pink. Yeah.

I can eat medium for sure. But what about you, Jim? Medium rare. Yeah. It's, it's got to just have, I don't even care if you're Mark. If the hive was on it, I'll cut it off. I cut the hide off. I don't care. You know, steak tartar, it's no better to me. If you can eat an oyster, you should be able to eat a rare steak. I don't know. I just, that's me. It's kind of like drinking bourbon neat and drinking it with water. What's the point?

Yeah. I mean, I like medium rare. I've had rare steaks before and they're good. They're delicious actually, but something about just a little more time on the grill, just a little bit more to that medium rare. I like that.

That just makes it hard to saw through. I got all my teeth in my mouth too. I'm not from Kentucky, so maybe that's, that's it right there. I don't know.

All right guys, how are we doing on this bourbon sea? I'm good.

Yeah. And I'm still stumped at these guys. Oh man, it's hurting my feelings.

Let me, let me ask you a question, Paul. What, what bourbons are on your top five list that you haven't been able to get your hands on? Oh, that I haven't had? Yeah, that you haven't been able to get your hands on.

William LaRue Weller is the number one that I'm still chasing after. All right. I swore on my birthday that we did the, uh, you know, thirsty peddler, but it was, you know, it was in springtime. It was kind of hot. So by the time we got to the first bar, it was the garage bar, and I could have gotten William LaRue Weller there for, I think it's like 40 bucks for a drink, for a two ounce pour. I was so hot, I got the, you know, Coors Lite. No, actually it was regular Coors because they had special because we were on the peddler.

But Troy, did you go on that peddler too? I was on it. But you didn't pedal. I peddled. Did you really? Who didn't pedal? The women. The women. I peddled.

I'm telling you though, we were sweating. The guys were sweating hard because it was, it had to be 80 degrees easily.

What the hell is the point? I'd get in an Uber and Uber myself to the bar. You know what, you want to go to five bars, I'll Uber myself.

No, it was fun. I'm telling you, it was a lot of fun. We had a blast.

When towards the end of it, I did figure out that she didn't really have a pedal. So some of you pick up. There's a motor in there. I think we were just charging the battery.

Yeah. There's a motor in that thing. So if everybody stops pedaling, it keeps going. I'd be the guy not pedaling.

I know we went to Vegas and stuff and they, there's a Ferris wheel there that you get on and you stay on there for like 20 minutes and it's all you can drink for that 20 minutes. I guess 30 minutes, but you can drink as much as you can. They only have one bartender and they crammed like 20 people in there. And man, that lady, she didn't know what she got herself into when I stepped on it. My group of people was with me. We were, she was putting poor two drinks at one time and handing out beers and she was, she did a great job, but you come off that thing feeling pretty good. You're ready for the, for the, for the Vegas strip then.

Troy, what's that one bottle you haven't been able to put your hands on yet that you'd like to get?

Well, since I've had 12 and 15 year old Pappy, I would say I'd like to at least try the 20, even though I've been told that the 15 is the best. I would like to try the next step up.

So what do you think about going to a bar and doing a pour? And a lot of times when you go to a bar to get a pour of Pappy 20 or 23, you're going to pay 60 plus dollars for it.

Cause I did the 23 once. It happened to be at a bar. It was somewhat economical. I think it was only like $75.

Yeah. I've seen it in the eighties. Uh, butchers town grocery has it, I think for 80, 83 or something like that. And who has a lot of money for a bourbon. I mean,

Paul, have you had a pour of the weller?

I have not yet. Nope. So you're holding out for the bottle. Yeah. Well, I'll take a drink of it. No doubt. Yeah. It's just, yeah, it was, like I said, it was my birthday and we're thinking we're going to do it, but it was one of those beer times. It was a time for beer after you peddled that hard. By the end of the night though, we had had quite a bit of bourbon. We had two or three different bars other than that one. And it was good by the end of the night.

And you said you still go to lotteries and stuff and you, you know, do you, you, you keep a lookout like, um, liquor barn, when they just put their list out, they put everything they had on their list. You know what? Way beforehand. And that's not a lottery. They're actually just a, it's a release. But if, if they had that tomorrow, would you go up there?

You know, you know, It depends on how the tonight ends. You know, if they're drinking this much bourbon, it depends on how Troy and I, we got the penguins coming on at nine o'clock. So we'll be watching that and drinking some more bourbon.

Now, if I had a 21 year old son at home, um, for the holidays, I'd probably be like, you know what you're doing at four o'clock? You're going to get up there and sit out there in the cold for me. Cause I need, daddy needs that bourbon. Yeah.

Well, you know, Not my last one. My last one I struck out, there was a thousand armbands handed out and they had the whole Weller Antique group. So I could have got my William Lou Rueller there, but we ended up, I didn't get anything. But the time before I did get the opportunity to buy the 15 year Pappy and it's on my bar now. And you took that chance. I took that chance. I was number three. I couldn't have been more excited. Came home by nine o'clock woke up my wife. She, she thought the house was on fire. Oh, I came in the room here.

It's like a kid on Christmas.

That's right. It was better than Christmas. I could tell you that.

So should we, uh, should we take a few minutes here and score this one and move on down the road?

Let's do it. Let's do it.

We would like to thank Tommy and Gwen Mitchell from Log Heads Home Center for supporting this episode of the Bourbon Road. Log Heads Home Center, nestled in the hills of Kentucky, is an industry leader in building handcrafted rustic furniture. Family owned and operated, they take pride in offering only the very best for their customers. The Log Heads, and that's what they like to call themselves, are skilled wood crafters who are passionate about creating rustic furniture for people who appreciate the beauty of natural wood. Owners Tommy and Gwen don't just sell the rustic lifestyle, they live it. And you can be sure that Loghead's furniture will always be handcrafted in Kentucky by artisans who embrace the simple way of life. Loghead's rustic furniture is made from northern white cedar, a sustainable wood that's naturally rotten termite resistant. Its beauty and quality will add warmth to your earthy lifestyle for generations to come. Be sure to check out everything they have to offer at LogHeadsHomeCenter.com. And while you're at it, give Tommy and Gwen a shout on Facebook or Instagram at LogHeadsHomeCenter. Alright guys, so we are back and we've all recorded our scores for the third bourbon and now we've got D in our glass. Any last thoughts on C?

I like sea. I like sea a lot. Did you? Yeah. I mean, it was, you know, I could taste some caramel, some cranberry in there.

Oh, some cranberry. Yeah. All right. Yeah. Mike, what do you think about sea?

It tastes like a caramel corn. Uh, they, you know, the Halloween, you know, it's a big old caramel corn balls. Yeah. It had that taste to it. Yeah.

So Troy, thumb up, thumb sideways, thumb down. C, what do you think?

C is my second favorite so far.

All right.

Yeah.

I kind of, I really liked it as well. I think C scored well for me. I'm going to tell you what my score is, but. Oh man. Was that high? That's your high score so far? I'm not saying.

Okay.

I'm not talking about it, but we've got D in our glass now and D is a little bit, you know, it's a little bit darker, right? So when we're, when we're talking about darkness on these, A was like, really dark. B was light. C was really dark again, but not as dark as a and C sort of these kind of in the middle, right? I don't know this. I've seen Coors light. It's darker than this. Yeah. It's a dark honey. Amber, right?

Ooh, that's got some spice to it. Yeah.

That's definitely a little bit over a hundred. I'd say like 110. I mean, I don't always get cinnamon on the nose, but I got cinnamon on the nose on this one.

I could get that. Yeah. Yeah.

It's, um, it's sweeter. I think a little bit sweeter than C, but it doesn't have that, a little bit of toffee, but it doesn't have a real like creamy mouthfeel to it.

It's got a cayenne pepper on the back end. Maybe a little bit of habanero in there. It does burn.

Yeah. I'm getting pepper, oak and leather on the end there. Yeah. Yeah. All three of those. Rich worn leather taste. Yeah. That's probably that's probably eight year old bourbon. You think it's eight years old? I think it might be six to eight.

But I'm starting to as it opens up and taste a little bit of caramel in there, I guess. So, guys, what have you other distillery tours? Paul, what else have you been to?

I've been to the Makers Mark tour. That was kind of nice. I mean, it's it's well done. Have you been out there since they opened a restaurant up? Yeah. We did not eat there, but I've heard it's pretty decent there.

Yeah. The chefs out there is actually the son-in-law to Lisa Wicker. She is a, the master distiller for, um, widow Jane. Yeah. And, uh, that was kind of nice thing to know. And so now we go out there and have that face, you know, named her face and stuff. And I liked it. These distilleries are seeing that people want to come to the distillery and do more than just taste their whiskey, taste their bourbon. They wanted, the wives or spouse that doesn't drink bourbon wants to come along too. And they want to, they want to have a meal and stuff and have some fun out there too. So why not open up a restaurant and hopefully they'll, people get that and start building hotels around these distilleries so people can stay the night and really enjoy that atmosphere out there.

Yeah. I think, I think a maker's mark is, um, very well organized, very orchestrated, very, um, I mean they've got, they've got a plan when they're taking you through that place because they've got so many people coming through there every day. Yeah.

It's, it's a long ride.

You know, you're out there. I don't like how they, you know, they, when they redid it, when we first went there is man, I'm 20 something years ago when we first went there and you got to go through the old, um, where you dipped your bottle and stuff at. Yeah. Old wooden vats and stuff and I don't remember this now You don't get to see all that old stuff and where they dip their bottles at is this new, right? Experience I guess they dip them right in the gift shop now. Yeah. Yeah, and I think those two right over there The old way they did it was to me was more personal.

Yeah I take you in the cave now you get to go in the cave and then you You walk through the, well, you walk through the whole distillery. You get the grand tour. I mean, you get a pretty good tour. Then they sit you down in the glass room and you taste everything. And I thought it was, I thought it was a darn good tour. I really did. Beautiful place. Yeah. Absolutely gorgeous.

So are you like, do you drink a little maker sometimes? No. No. Just a Buffalo, Buffalo Trace.

That brand, Buffalo Trace brand. Eagle Rare is my favorite.

Man, me and Jim had a bottle of Eagle Rare back a couple episodes ago, and that might've been the best Eagle Rare bottle I've ever tasted before. I couldn't stop drinking it that night.

Well, because Eagle Rare bottles, they don't necessarily call it a single barrel, I guess, but it can be a single barrel because they fill bottles as they dump barrels. So it's kind of a cereal fill kind of thing. You get different flavors out of them. You notice some difference in some of them bottles.

It's been my favorite for a long time. And then when the Weller craze took place, I kind of started chasing it and I liked it. And I was off Eagle Rare for like a year, probably, because I'd come over with Paul and we'd drink Weller and it just seemed like the thing we did. And one night at home, I decided I was going to have some more Eagle Rare. And when I did, I was like, why am I chasing? All this other stuff, whenever Eagle Rare is, is my favorite.

Yeah.

And Eagle Rare is- I would have brought it tonight if it was in our range. Well, I mean, you can find it at 50 bucks.

I've seen it at $50.

I won't pay that for it, but both of your wives drink bourbon with you? No. No. Troy, no. They don't sit down. They just kind of turn their nose up at it. They like tequila and vodka.

Anything that makes clothes come off, right? Right. Yeah. Mine will drink it. Occasionally old fashioned now that we have their new recipe. That's right. That Paul came up with.

I made Darcy one today and she said just one. So I made it a triple. Now Jim makes some, what about bourbon cream?

Bourbon cream in the coffee. Yeah, sure. Jim makes awesome bourbon cream. Now, I don't know why he didn't make a whole bunch or like a big vat of it up because it costs a lot of money.

Well, I mean, I had never made it before and I was going, I was going to do an episode with a bourbon museum down there in, in Bardstown.

Oscar gets me. Yeah. And they had a representative coming over from heaven hill and I thought, well, I need to make sure I'm using some heaven hill products in this bourbon cream.

And I only made one, and it just turned out good. I got lucky. I mean, I found a recipe on the internet, but I never follow recipes. I use them as inspiration, you know? But I got lucky. In fact, the guy from Heaven Hill said, you ought to sell this recipe.

How long would that last once you make it?

Well, I mean, I think because I made it so strong, I did a half a bottle of bourbon and a half a bottle of the cream content. So it's what? It was 100-proof bourbon, so it's 50-proof. I imagine that alcohol probably keeps it fresh, right?

If you used, I wonder if you used a like condensed condensed milk.

I use sweetened condensed milk. Yeah, I did. And I, and I used, I used whipping, whipping cream too. Heavy whipping cream. Yeah.

I'm just wondering how long it would last in the refrigerator before that cream goes bad or something. You know, you don't want to pour it out and it's kind of cheese.

I think, I think that that, that alcohol in that bourbon is going to keep it good for a while. I don't know. Yeah.

We were told once cause my wife likes that and they told us once after you put it in the fridge, not to more than a couple of months, not to really, uh, Trust it too much.

Does it really last more than a couple of months though?

I don't think it would.

You wake up in the morning and you're on vacation. I know when we're off for a couple of days and it's nice to wake up in the morning and you don't have nothing else to do and have a cup of coffee and pour some of that bourbon cream in there. Yeah, that's nice. Not that I get that many days off anymore, but it seems like we got something to do, but it's nice to sit down with a cup of coffee and put that bourbon cream in there and sip on it.

You guys getting ethanol and pepper on the finish on this one a little bit? I do. Yeah. I've got long hot and peppery. Yeah. It's definitely peppery. I think a lot of habanero peppers. I think some of that heat's coming from that, some of that ethanol on the finish. I think it's a medium to long finish. I mean, it sticks around for a while, but it's not, I don't know, it's not the best, you know, I would say.

Fair to Midland.

Remember that Mike? Fair to Midland. Fair to Midland. We were, we were sitting there talking one day and I said, fair to Midland. He said, he said, what's that? I said, it's an old Texas saying. He said, I'm from Texas. That's not a Texas. I've heard that before.

Have you heard that before?

Yeah, I've heard it.

I never, maybe it's outside of Texas. People think, you know, they think it's Texas. They think it's Texas. I'd never heard it before. And maybe, maybe it is saying, maybe it was on a, was that on drugstore cowboy or what was that? Electric horseman or.

What was the movie with? Something cowboy, electric cowboy. No, not electric cowboy.

I'm thinking urban cowboy.

Urban cowboy. What was his name? Robert Redford. Robert Redford, yeah.

He had that suit with lights on it. He just wanted to let that horse go.

That's right. That's a good old movie right there. Well, my dad says, fare the milling all the time.

Does he?

Yeah.

Now I've heard of Luke and Bach Texas a whole bunch in my life. That's kind of hill country there. Midland's more oil country, I think. And I don't know why they say fair to Midland because it's just a dry desert out there.

In order to prove my part, I sent you the article. You should have read it.

I didn't read it. The first time I met Jim, he was like, you listen to podcasts? I was like, no, I don't listen to podcasts. And next time I saw him, he's like, you listen to that podcast? No, I didn't. I didn't listen to podcasts. Come on, man, listen to that podcast. So I listened to it and I listened to every dang episode like in one of the week, you know? Sometimes I was almost late for work because I'd set my truck out there in the parking lot and listen to it. He's hooked. I was hooked in. I had found other podcasts. Some of them are shameful.

All right, fellas. So, uh, what do you think? You got enough information gathered to make your scores? I do. All right. So we're going to take a little bitty break here. And when we come back, we're going to figure out who won. Let's do it. Figure out Jim won. No. All right. All right, Joe, we're back and we have results. So what do you think? You guys have a good time? Yeah, absolutely. What do you think about blind tasting? Great idea. Did you know which bottle was yours, Troy? No. No.

What about you, Paul? No, I didn't really. Yeah.

Mike, did you know which one was yours?

I did. Did you really? As soon as they brought the tray down and there's four glasses of bourbon sitting there and one of them just was so much darker than the rest of them. And I knew what I brought. Um, you know, cause there's a outstanding, I was like, I didn't bring one of those light looking bourbons. Yeah.

So I'll be honest, I didn't know which one was mine. And blind tasting is the great equalizer. A lot of times, you get label bias. You see a label, you think, oh, that's a good bourbon. It tastes good. But when in fact, another one right next to it might actually be better if you weren't biased by the label. So tasting bourbons blind is a great thing. I mean, it's really good.

I think once you get up into this price range, it'll show. that just because it has a high price on it, maybe it's not the best bourbon ever. Um, especially when you put it next to something else at that price range. Like I'd say you could put something that's this high price range or in this $50 price range next to a $10 bottle. And sometimes that $10 bottle will blow it out of the water.

Yeah. I mean, there's some, there's some bottling bond bourbons in the 10 to $15 range that are just phenomenal. They're so good. I agree. All right, guys, you ready for the results? Let's do it. All right. So we scored each one of these bourbons on a 10 point scale for aroma, taste and finish. Each one of us had the opportunity of scoring a bourbon up to 30 points, right? 10 for nose, 10 for taste, 10 for finish. So if we had all scored it, all four of us would have scored a bourbon 30, that bourbon would have got a score of 120 points. Does that kind of make sense? But no bourbon scored that high. But bourbon A did win and it was scored at 93. All right, bourbon C scored 83.5, bourbon D 97.5, and bourbon B 67.5. So what I'm gonna do is I'm gonna tell you fourth place and who it was. You ready?

Fourth place was bourbon B with 67.5 points.

And Bourbon B was Paul, our host.

I brought Jefferson Reserve and I had just had a Jefferson Reserve. My brother had bought over a bottle and we had another party. And it was amazing. It was outside the price range, so I couldn't get that. It was about $80 a bottle. So I thought I'd go with Jefferson Reserve in the $45 to $55 range, and it was about $46. And it just didn't stack up. I will be honest with you.

But it was a good bourbon. Yeah, it's a good bourbon.

But compared to the other three, I definitely saw three better bourbons in this one, for sure.

All right, so in third place, third place was Bourbon D. Bourbon D was scored at 79.5. And I brought bourbon D and bourbon D was the four roses, small batch select. That's the new release. The new expression from four roses. It just released this year. It's 104 proof. It's a, for me, it's a good breaking bourbon, but it didn't quite hold up to first and second place.

And I, you know what, Jim, what I wrote down on number four was four roses. Yeah. I wrote down 110 proof. There you go. Um, that's pretty close.

Mike, you're getting good at this. No doubt about it. A little bit better.

I didn't come close on the other two though.

All right. So far fourth place was a Jefferson's reserve. Third place was a four roses, small batch select second place with 83.5 points. was Troy. Troy, what'd you bring? 1792 single barrel. It's a single barrel from 1792. What's the proof on that? 98.6. Yeah, we heard that. That actually got on the recording. 98. Paul, get down.

Yeah, I was dead on with that one. I'm pretty good at picking the proofs, I guess. What did you say? It was 98.6? It was 98. That's what you said, 98? 98. Wow. And on my bourbon, I had picked 91, and it's right at 90, 90.2.

I had that bourbon at a hundred proof is what I had it at. And I said it was three years old. I don't know what, I don't think that's age stated on there. Do you know what?

I'm not a hundred percent sure of it now. You know, I guessed it to be in the six to eight year range. I've been on a couple of barrel picks at Barton's and picking the barrels 1792. I think they're normally around seven years.

I'll tell you something I'm noticing amongst all the bottles. These are some of the most beautiful bottles that are on the shelves. Each one is unique. It's not a wine bottle. It's not, I would say, a whiskey bottle.

Well, don't give away too much. We haven't revealed number one yet. Well, I'm just talking about your three bottles.

OK. Even your bottle, Jim, is a four roses bottle. They had that engraved, I guess. Was that what you'd call it? Etched?

With the roses.

With the roses and stuff. It's a beautiful bottle. I like seeing that. You know, people putting their own spin on the bottle.

Well, Troy, I have to tell you, I was the outlier. So I actually chose your bottle as my top pick. I'm a big fan of 1792. I love their bottle and bond. That's a good single barrel there. So I am now. Yeah. Cherish that bottle.

Now, did you go out and find that bottle?

I had it at home because if I see something and it interests me, I'll buy it. And so I had it on the shelf and I looked and saw it was in the price range. And again, it was on the shelf because it was owned by Sazerac.

There you go.

I thought it was time to try it since it was in our price range and I'm glad I brought it.

All right. Well, since we're process elimination here, I think Mike, everybody knows you won. Yeah. Yeah. But with 93 points, finally I win. 93 points, first place. And Mike, what did you bring?

I actually brought Woodford Reserves double oaked. Now that's not a pick, is it? No, it's not a pick. It just came off the shelf. I think I got this at Kroger. It's a, you know, 94, 90.4 proof. I think it's a, just a great bourbon.

Well, I'll tell you what. So both, well, both, all three of you guys, other than me picked that as your first pick. So the a bourbon, your bourbon, the double oak was picked first by Troy, Mike and Paul. So Jim was the outlier here.

And maybe that's because you're more of a rye guy. I don't know. It almost drinks like a weeded bourbon. It's got that sweetness to it. Very sweet. It's very sweet.

It's a good bourbon. I had some good notes on it. The difference for me between first place and second place was one point. So I had 23.5 versus 22.5. Same with you.

Yep. I had 23 versus 22, so close.

22 and 21. 22 and Mike?

Mine went down. I actually had that 1792 at the bottom of my list, but you know, I don't know about scoring and stuff, some of these things. It's just all on taste, a person's taste. You know, I don't know.

Yeah, everybody really like something different, you know Well Jen and we've had a blast here today Troy Paul. It's been great having you on the show I hope we can do this again sometime.

Sure and Paul Thank you so much for hosting this party tonight. Absolutely. We've been looking forward to it all month since we saw you at the bar a month ago We've been looking forward to it. It's really good.

We'll do it again And maybe next time we'll pick a pick something different, you know, maybe we'll do a ride Mike. What do you think?

You know, we did arrive. Um, and I'm wondering if people want to hear about Irish whiskey or Canadian whiskey or, um, or about Scott's, you know, let's get some used up bourbon barrels and make some whiskey out of it. I think I'd like to do a Canadian whiskey, uh, to our brothers to the North, uh, and see what everybody brings.

Yeah, we can do something like that. Yeah. I don't, I think I said in an earlier episode, we may be the bourbon row, but we might take a side road once in a while.

They make a little bit of Canadian whiskey. Yeah. Yeah. They make a, they actually don't make old caribou.

I was looking at that to bring and I'm like, Oh, well I can't bring that one.

All right, fellas. It's been a great show. A lot of fun. Hope we can do it again real soon. Thank you so much. Thank you. Thanks guys.

Hey from the bourbon road team. I think we want to get everybody in the room together here at Paul's house and say, we do appreciate all of our listeners.

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