381. Hardins Creek Campus Collection

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. Welcome back, listeners, to another episode of the Bourbon Road Podcast. I'm your host, Jim Shannon, and today we are in the Bourbon Road Bar. Got an old friend in the house. He's been on the show a few times before. This time he came bearing gifts, though, and kind of excited today. He's kind of, well, let's just let the cat out of the bag. Todd Ritter's on the show today, and he had an idea for a show, and I thought it was a grand idea, especially since he's providing the whiskey. Todd, welcome back to the Berman Room. Thank you, Jim. I appreciate it. Yeah, really good to have you on again. You and I have actually been sipping on a few things before the show to kind of warm up our palates because we've got a task ahead of us. Yes, an epic task. So why don't you tell the listeners what you brought for us today and kind of what we're going, what's this thing we're going through today?

So what we're going through today is the Hardin's Creek campus collection. They dropped these, I guess they started dropping these in early 2023. And so basically it's a 17 year bourbon that the barrels were aged at three of their plants or at their wreck houses. The first release was Claremont. The second was at the Frankfurt Distillery. There's actually a Jim Beam Distillery in Frankfurt. Not a whole lot of folks know that. And then the last one is in Boston, Kentucky. all three of these house barrels that were 17 years old. And so it's kind of a, I thought, Hey, let's, let's try them and compare them. And then we have kind of a special bottle that came with a, the Jim Beam barreled and box set recently, a distiller share that's kind of a, a blend of all

Three of those, and we'll talk about that. That's pretty awesome. So we're drinking, I guess you'd qualify these as extra aged. Yes, very extra aged. All are 110 proof as well. Yeah, so high proof, extra aged, all equal except for where they were aged. They were aged in different rick houses in different locations, all belonging to James B. Beam Distilling Company. Correct. Well, folks, the first time we had the Hardin's Creek line of products on was when it was aged at 184 months. I'll let you do the math on that. Yeah, I think it's like 15 and a half-ish. Okay. Close. Yeah. I don't like talking about bourbons in terms of months of age. 15 years, four months. There you go. I think that's it. Check my math. I'm not going to check your math. Somebody out there will, I'm sure. But yeah, it's tough for me. I can do 36 months or 24 months. That registers in my brain. But when you say 184, I'm like, oh, come on, guys. How old is that? It's a lot of months, though. But we're going to drink through four different whiskeys today. They're all Hardin's Creek, but different locations, three different whiskeys, and then a blend of those three. And these products are available on the shelf.

Yes. These originally came out in 750 milliliters during 2023 at a retail about $170 a piece, which, I mean, that's about $10 per year, which is kind of like, that's a good rate, I think. And then lately they've been dropping some box sets, and that's what we are sipping on. It's like a collection of all three. They're 200-milliliter bottles, and I think it's also retailing for about 170, but it's in a smaller package and a little fancier package.

Yeah. Probably, in my opinion, a reasonable value because you get to try all of them, right? And you get to try them with only 200 mils. So, it's enough for you to really have a good sit down with a couple of friends and taste through them. Yeah. It's not like getting an airplane bottle. Right. So, well, I'm looking forward to this. I'm pretty excited. Like I said, we first tasted the Hardin's Creek In August of 22, episode 293, we sat down with Freddie Ngo and we tasted it then. It's a long time ago for me, but I remember really enjoying it. Right.

That's one of my favorite pours, I think, probably. It's a very highly rated pour. I've actually just dropped at 210 month, I think is starting to hit shelves now. So, You're going to make me do more math.

No, no, that's okay. I know when it gets to 240, it's 20 years. So just subtract. It's probably easier.

We love it when it hits the times 10 or times 20. The folks are saying quit the math guys, get to the drinking. Not a math podcast. Thank goodness. All right. Well, let's check it out.

Yeah. Cheers. Cheers. Wow. Does that, does that nose like a 17 year old bourbon? It's got a residual floral note to it. That's kind of interesting. You would expect some of that to be gone by now. Yeah, it does. But there's that like peanut shell. Yeah. Definitely got that nutty character. Maybe even like, I would say like roasted peanuts. Uh, the, like the, the honey crystals on the outside of the peanuts, the, um, like honey roasted peanuts. Yeah. And the shells of course, but I'm getting a little, that sweetness is coming across, but the oak has gotten a pretty, a pretty good effect on the nose here.

Yeah, I agree. It's a nice sweet oak.

Oh, it doesn't, uh, what'd you say the proof was again on this? 110, they're all 110. It doesn't quite nose 110 for me. It's a, it's not attacking my nostrils. No, it's not. It's very nice way to taste it.

Punching the nose. Yeah. Cheers.

Wow. That is, that is really good. Yeah. That is delightful.

Like most of you know, Claremont is the big campus where the restaurant is and all that. where most of their operations are and their tours and all that. I don't know if they do any kind of, I know they don't do any tours at the Frankfurt one, although Bourbon Society has done kind of a, we got to, or some of our members got to do kind of a special tour there once. An official visit. An official visit. And then I'm not sure, I'd say Boston's probably just Rick houses. Yeah, I think you're right.

Yeah, I think they have just the one customer-facing facility there. That's really neat. It's a great place to go to. I encourage anyone who is traveling north and south through Kentucky and has an opportunity to bounce off I-65 to to get off at that exit. I think it's exit 112, I think, somewhere around there. Anyway, about- Google will get you there. Yeah, about 15 to 20 miles south of Louisville, right on I-65 there. But anyway, gorgeous campus. Plan on spending several hours there for the tour and the restaurant and the gift shop. The gift shop is immense. It's a wonderful time. Yes. And I really, really, really suggest that you take a meal at that restaurant because it's something good.

Yeah. I've not been up there since that new restaurant opened, so I need to get up there.

I mean, it's managed by the same people that manage Jack Rose in New Orleans. Okay.

The time I went up there, like they had that like barbecue type place, which I thought was really, really good too. So kind of a sandwich place because it was part of the, I got to go do a barrel pick and that was, you know, when you do a barrel pick, they roll out some sort of carpet, like a little bit of red carpet for you. It's pretty cool.

Yeah. Oh, this is, this is settling in for a substantial hug. I'm really feeling it kind of, kind of deep in my chest. It has a wonderful finish on it, nice and lengthy. We always talk about there being two components to a finish. One is the time, how long it lasts, and the other is how pleasant is it? And then of course you can pull notes out on a finish if you like. For me, without any notes, I'm just going to say that this is pleasant and lengthy. Yeah, it's just sitting, not going away, which is I love. And what's the importance of a finish? I mean, let's talk about why a finish is something that people look for in a whiskey.

I don't know. I like it because if you're sitting around talking to friends and, you know, it's just, you both take a sip and you just like it takes you places. Like if it stays, like if it drops off really quick, it's kind of like, oh, well then, you know, then you might have to go back in for another sip. But like that long finish, you can just, it's like sit and be quiet for a little bit.

And that's why I love a long finish whiskey because it changes the whole moment of drinking whiskey with somebody. It slows you down. It kind of makes you more intentional about what you're doing. You become a little bit more analytical about the flavors you're getting. And you just, in general, you just slow down the drinking a little bit. Unlike a sessionable whiskey is something that drinks really light where you're sip, sip, sip, sip, sip, sip, sip, sip, right? Yeah, I like being slowed down. I like my thinking cap being turned on just a little bit. Yeah. And yeah, this one definitely urges you to take another sip, but you're not encouraged to do so within 30 seconds. Right.

Leads you to deeper thoughts, I think.

Deeper thoughts. Yeah.

There we go.

The thinking man. That's right.

Well, this is really, really good. I mean, this makes me like, I'm like, what was I doing 17 years ago, you know?

Oh my goodness, 17 years ago. Now you got me thinking.

Yeah, I didn't limp as much. I was able to get on the ground and play with the grandkids. I was still playing some sports at 37. Were you? Yeah.

Yeah, I was done with sports by then, because my sport was BMX. So I was kind of done in my 40s. So that would have been 53, 17 years ago. No, 43, 17 years ago. So I'd just been at the tail end of my BMX career. Wow. Yeah, it hurt. It still hurts, actually. Wow, this is such great whiskey.

We haven't talked much about the pilot, sweet praline and vanilla and just sweet oak.

Yeah, it definitely doesn't have the more chocolatier notes. I think it's more on the baking spice end of things. Pralines is probably a good choice because it does combine that nuttiness and that sort of crystal sugar sweetness. It does have kind of a floral note. It's almost like a floral honey note that sticks around. And that's what I was surprised by because it's 17 years. I wouldn't have expected that to still be there. That's something you wouldn't expect to see in a 17 year old bourbon. You expect it to be more tobacco-y, more leathery, more chocolatey, more dark, more oak empowered. This is oak empowered, but it still retains some of the- It's still on the lighter side of that, I guess, like you said, for 17. It's a good pour. It is a very good pour. So let's talk about where you got this from. So your set came from a subscription service.

Yes. I guess it's been going on for maybe a year and a half or so, the Jim Beam Barreled and Boxed membership. And so I think once every quarter, so they have like a spring drop, a summer, a fall, and a winter. And usually you'll get, usually it's like two bottles. So it's been anywhere from like special little book, special bookers, 18-year-old Knob Creek, 15-year-old Knob Creek. And one of the past ones was this little combo of the campus collection and that special, what's called a distiller's share, which there have been four of those. And those are apparently either only available through this Beam and Box collection or at the distillery. And yeah, well, when we sample that one later, we'll get into a little more detail on what's in that and the blend of that. But it's been a lot of fun. The price is very, I know it's, I didn't look up, it's obviously available in Kentucky, DC, I believe North Dakota and a couple other states, but I mean. That's due to limited quantities. Limited quantities and I'm, you know, there's a lot of bumps in the road when you get into the shipping and distributor distributing yourself kind of thing, I believe.

Well, the good thing about this is this isn't a fixed price subscription. So you only pay for the price of the item that's actually being shipped to you when it's being shipped to you. Yes, that's correct.

And prices have kind of varied depending on what they've sent, obviously. And there's tax here in Kentucky and shipping costs. But it's just been kind of fun. I mean, it's kind of like getting a special present like four times a year.

The Bourbon Road did an episode on the barrel and box program from James P.B. Distilling. It was episode 192. On that episode, we go through kind of the details of that whole thing and how you do it. I did check before the show, before we came on the show here. I'm not currently a member because we were complimentary members when we first started. You can still sign up. They're still accepting people into the program. So just go to Jim Beam Barreled and Boxed and enter your zip code and they'll tell you whether or not you qualify. Yeah.

And I know originally when it first started that they, like you had to take whatever they were sending it, but now I think they've kind of led up on that a little bit. So if there's something, they'll kind of give you a heads up like, Hey, this is what's coming. Do you want this? I guess if you want to pass on that particular box that's coming, you can. I have yet to do that.

You don't pass on whiskey. If I'm going to pay for it, I'm going to get it.

All right. I'm ready to switch to the next one. Yeah. So the second one is, uh, this one was the one that's housed in Frankfurt. So, okay.

So let's talk a little bit about the Frankfurt facility. That is basically the, um, uh, kind of the old granddad plant, right? Correct.

Okay. Old national distillers. Uh, I mean, it goes, it's been, there's been a distillery on that site since like the 1800s. Um, it was actually the Frankfurt distillery back in those days. All right.

Well, I'm hitting the nose on this a little bit. I'm getting that same light floral note on it that I got on the other one on the Claremont.

Does this peanut seem more pronounced to you this time?

I do believe that it's more shell this time for me. Yeah. Yeah. The last time I kind of felt a little bit more like honey roasted peanuts. I think you mentioned peanut shell before, but for me this is more shell less peanut. Maybe even less oak, like the oak's not as pronounced. The oak's not as pronounced and there's less sweetness on it, I think, just a little bit.

Now, I do know that the Rick House, there are a couple Rick Houses out at the Frankfurt Distillery. And this one's known as, I think most of this probably came out of, it's called Warehouse Q.

Okay.

downstream from Buffalo Trace? Yes, it kind of sits right there on Elkhorn Creek in the, like in between Georgetown and Frankfurt, but it's mostly on the Frankfurt side. Got it. Okay.

I think for me, I mean, the Claremont was, like I said, delightful. For me, this is a little bit, a little bit drier. And I haven't tasted it yet. This is just on the nose. Um, this would lean a little bit more towards something that might be better with a cigar. Yeah. Um, whereas the Claremont, I feel like maybe a little bit more food pairing.

This is a little bit more cigar pairing. Are you getting a little cherry on this one? I am just a, just a little bit.

If I had to categorize that fruit, that little bit of a fruit floral nose I'm getting, I'd probably say it leans cherry. Yeah. All right. Check the palate. Cheers. Okay. This one's, this one's impacting the sides of my tongue a little bit more by jawline.

I wouldn't say this is darker. Like we called that first one for a 17 year old, a light 17 year old. This one might be a little more like medium. It's got like a little more darker intensity to it.

Yeah, it's got a little bit more pepper on the palate. It's definitely a drier sip than the Claremont. This is lacking some sweetness that the Claremont has. Yes. And I don't know if that's what's making me salivate on the sides of my palate. It's kind of tingling my jawline a little bit. I call it dripping. It's kind of dripping on the jawline. Yeah. I don't know. I don't know what causes that. There's some, I'm sure there's some fancy medical term on why it's doing that, but yeah, this is a little bit more of a back porch cigar Wife kicked you out of the house. You got to go smoke a cigar on the back porch with your buddies. Um, whiskey, this is, this is good stuff. And it has the same deep hug, deep chest hug that I was getting before. This one drinks its age and drinks its proof.

Yes, I agree. Yep. Like this is what you would expect a 17 year, 17 year bourbon to, uh, affect your palate.

Wow. You're going to have to host this same tasting with some other friends of yours, because this is, this is really nice. That's the plan. Yeah. This is really good. And then 200 mil bottles. I know they look small, but we barely poured out, you know, a little bit out of the neck that you've still got plenty there. Yeah.

I expect I'll probably, uh, actually I had, I had a bottle of the Frankfurt bourbon that I found out in the wild and, uh, Since most of our members of the board got to go do a tour of the Frankfurt, I actually had COVID at that time, so I didn't get to go there. They actually got to try a 16-year-old bourbon out there. So I'm pretty sure this was about a year ago. Obviously, this is probably the same thing. It wasn't too long ago when I got that bottle I shared with, we had a board meeting. I was like, hey, try this. I'm pretty sure you had this when it was 16 years old. So here, tried it 17.

So what are your expectations on the Hardin's Creek expression legacy going forward? What do you think is going to happen? What do you think the plan is?

I mean, from a marketing standpoint, it works well. I mean, there's a good buzz around it. Like I said, I'm pretty sure I just saw where a 210 month, and again, we won't do the math, but is starting to drop in certain areas. So it looks like it's just going to be kind of some high aged product is kind of my feeling with it.

As long as the product continues to improve with age, they'll continue to release it. And I'm sure the stocks are pretty voluminous. Is that a word? Voluminous, yes.

Yeah. And I mean, if anybody's out had Knob Creek 18, this is, I mean, this is not Knob Creek 18 to me.

Yeah, no.

Very oak intensive, even more so. Yeah, it wasn't like the 15.

The 15 was crazy oak, right? Yeah, which is strange. But they fixed that with the 18 a little bit. And I enjoyed the 18. I did too. I think I would take this over the 18. Either of the two we've had so far. Yes, personally. Maybe not over the 12th though. It might be that extra 10 proof too.

I like that, not Greek 12. It's pretty amazing. Some of those 14-year-old picks that you used to be able to find were always, there were some amazing 14-year-old picks. Absolutely.

Yeah, you could get them on both ends of the spectrum, right? You could get them wonderfully nutty and baking spice and you could get them over-oaked and dark. They came both ways. It just depends on where they pulled them from. Yeah, I would say the finish on this is very similar to what we had in the first one, except it kind of...

I feel like it's just a hair shorter, like medium to long, whereas that other one was there a long time to me.

Maybe that sweetness makes it just stick around a little bit longer. I don't know. But yeah, it's very similar in how pleasant it is. Yeah. I have to say again, and I don't smoke cigars anymore, but were I still a cigar smoker, I would definitely call one out for this.

You got a favorite of the two yet?

I think for the moment, I like this a lot. This is a little bit more on my wheelhouse, but there was something special about the Claremont. Yeah. And so I'm going to still stick with the Claremont, even though this should be my pick because this is a little more down my alley. Yeah.

If it was a horse race, it'd be kind of neck and neck. So. Neck and neck.

But I keep thinking back to that Claremont and the initial impression I got on it. And I just thought how how wonderfully delightful it was. This one, I think, needs something to go along with it. Like I said, a cigar or something else, I don't know. It's really good though. Yeah, it's fantastic. Two, very, very... I tell you what I'm really looking forward to, that fourth pour.

Yeah, I am too. And word is, the Boston is the best, but I mean, that other one is so unique. I'm really intrigued. So when you say the word is, so the Boston is the next one we're going to try. Boston is the next one we'll try. And yeah, just friends and whiskey tubers and reviewers seem to think that Boston is the best. I have not tried that one, so I'm really looking forward to that one as well.

Now the Boston location is a little more hilly, right? I have never been in that area, so yeah. I think it is. Obviously, you know, the Frankfurt location sits down in a valley.

It's down in the Creek Valley, yeah.

The Claremont location is kind of a level ground, more or less.

Yeah, just kind of sit, some hills sit in behind it.

A little hills, not too much. You're kind of close to that Bernheim forest area.

Yeah, I think Boston's a little bit more knobs and knolls, so.

Yeah, great nose, great palate. Definitely different from the Claremont. I think that the Frankfurt's, it's another great pour. Altogether different, the two are very much different.

Of the two, I think it might be more closer to the Knob Creek 18. Does that?

I would say that, and again, it's hard to talk as if you're blind when you're not, but I would say if I was blind drinking this right now, I might almost guess a Knob Creek. Yeah. Yeah. I don't think I would have on the first one. No, I don't think so either. Because it has a little bit more of that. I might have guessed a Heaven Hill, maybe. Interesting. Yeah.

Well, I think we've talked about it just, you know, when you get together, you talk about everything. So, we've talked about Heaven Hills kind of got a peanut shell kind of thing, and usually Jim Beam kind of has a peanut vibe to me.

And sometimes some of the Lesser Willet products do too. So it's kind of amazing that whole area down there, right? Must be an air thing. An air thing.

It's terroir is what they call it.

All right, folks, we're going to take a quick break. When we come back, we've got two more expressions of the Hardin's Creek to try. And don't go away. The Boston's supposed to be the best from what we hear. We'll be right back. Looking for a unique gift? Blanton's bourbon shop has got you covered. All of their handcrafted wood products are made in their in-house wood shop with authentic bourbon barrels. Specializing in barrel-age potent treats, they use Blanton's barrels to age their own maple syrup, honey, and coffee. Find the most unique gift ideas for your golf lover, cigar connoisseur, avid coffee drinker, and Blanton's fan. Want to win an authentic Blanton's barrel head? Make sure you sign up for the giveaway on the home page of their website. Blanton'sBurbanShop.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. Do 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 loaders gift shop and branding specialist.

All right, listeners, so we are back.

We had a nice little break there. We had a little munchy bar set up here, but we tried not to eat the, Too much of the spicy salami and other stuff. We sort of stuck with the wheat crackers. Couple of Cheez-Its. I had a couple of Cheez-Its.

Just one cracker.

One cracker. You're so good. You're so grounded in your tasting. I'm about grounded. All right, so in the first half, we had the Hardin's Creek Claremont release, 17 years. We had the Frankfurt release, 17 years. Both were just short of amazing. Really, really good pours. Agreed. Both were fantastic. Highly, highly recommended. And a lot of fun to compare because... They're so different. Same but different, yeah. Same but different. They were both equally delightful, but different in their profiles. And they both brought a different, like almost like a... I don't want to say a different use, but a different application, right? I mean, yeah. Yeah. Like one was like definitely just an extra age bourbon that would have played so well with a big... Tomahawk steak dinner. And the other one just would have paired wonderfully with cigar out on the back porch.

I just noticed kind of today before the show that on each bottle is kind of like the average humidity in each place, each rick house. And also they talk about like the average wind speed, which I didn't really, when you think of aging.

Well, I guess if the windows were open in the rick house, that's how often the air exchanges, right?

Yeah, I guess so.

So humidity is important, but also If a rick house is closed up, the humidity is going to be kind of consistent, right? It's based on the barrel evaporation. But if that can be exchanged out with the wind blowing. Yeah. I mean, the whiskey nerds out there will applaud for sure. Yeah, yeah.

I kind of like that stuff. Or the folks that are into mapping because it actually has Latin long too. Yeah, it does. Fantastic. Awesome. So in our glass right now, what do we have? This is the Boston version. So again, 110 proof, all housed at Boston, 17 years of age and already I'm just kind of cheating on the nose and it's a little different than the other two.

Yeah, it is. It does have a little bit different. This one's a little bit more, a little more sentiment to it. Yeah. That's interesting. I'm not sure where the cinnamon comes from. I think it's the oak, right? It's the wood. I would think so. Yeah. Yeah. So this one has managed to pick up those cinnamon notes. But again, uh, this one doesn't, uh, doesn't nose above its proof or at its proof. It's kind of a little below maybe even with the cinnamon note. I think it's, it feels less ethanol-y.

Yeah.

Yeah. Very nice. Cheers. Cheers. Oh yeah. Oh, this is Mr. Spice Bomb.

This is good. That one coated the tongue a different way too. The textures there. Yeah.

Yeah.

Like a little oilier.

Yeah. This one, uh, this one definitely has more of a satiny feel to it. Yeah. That's a good word. You know, when you're eating food, texture means so much, right? You watch those food shows on TV and they're always talking about texture. You got to have that texture component. The same is true for whiskey, right? It just changes the game a little bit. Yeah. And you said some people were calling this out as one of the better ones. I wouldn't be surprised if it had something to do with the texture. Yeah.

And that finishes, that's another long, long finish. It's just sitting there.

Yeah. This one is, uh, so I got a little bit of black pepper on the Frankfurt. I think it was this one kind of minus the black pepper plus the cinnamon. Yeah. A little bit more of a spicy. I'd even go in like cardamom. Yeah.

Or all spice or spice. Yeah. Yeah.

Something like that. Um, I'm, I'm not great with the baking spice cabinet and there are others who do much better at that than I do, but. All I know is this is a little bit more, I guess you could almost call it, if it was sweeter, if it had more like a vanilla cream to it, you could almost call it a cinnamon roll, but it doesn't have that vanilla cream component. Not quite, no.

It's there, but it's not the star of the show. I think I get the hype. This might be my favorite too.

Yeah. I think this is definitely impressing on me very quickly that, um, this is the, this is the big brother to the other two. Yeah. Well done Boston. Yeah. Way to go Boston. Nobody even knows where you are, but you obviously age bourbon very well. Most people out there are like, there's a Boston, Kentucky. So where did they get the foresight? that many years ago to coordinate a batch for 17 years in the future or 15 years in the future, whatever it was. That'd be a great question to ask Freddie or, I mean, 17 years ago. And I probably need to go back to episode 293 and listen to that interview that we did with Freddie. I don't remember. It's been since August of 22 when we did that. He may have gone into more detail back then, and we may have gotten the answer to the question I just asked. Maybe.

I'm going to have to go listen again.

I only have capacity for so much in my little brain. It doesn't, I can't retain like, I mean, once you get past a few hundred whiskeys, I mean, honestly, I can remember if it was good or not. Yeah. I think, well, that's to me, that's the important thing.

I don't want to go back.

I'm going to drink that again. I bought this again or drank this again. What'd I do that for? Wow. Yeah. This is a, in fact, it's got just a, just a tad bit of butter to it. Yeah. But that could be the texture. Just lead me to that false sense of butter creamy. Yeah. Yeah. Mouthful. Wow.

I think that moved up to slot one for me. That's really, I get it.

Yeah. That's, that's some very, very good whiskey. The hype is real. So you can, you can buy these individually.

I've only seen them in like a gift set, like I said. Okay. And then the distiller share, which we'll be trying here just shortly. I'm guessing that drops at the gift shop on occasion or I mean, it may already be gone. I'm not even sure.

But the math bottles, the ones with the month ages on them, those are available out in the open market. Yes.

210 month. 210 month is apparently hitting markets now. The other ones are probably kind of going to be hard to find, I would say, you know, with the collectors and such out there. It's the way of the world these days.

I would say, I mean, I'll be honest. So you're fairly certain that if inventory is available, this particular set's available at the gift shop.

I literally just saw a set at my Kroger in Frankfurt like last week. Okay. So out in the wild and at the gift shop. I'm not sure if the 200 ml set's available at the shop. I would, I mean, I would a wager it probably is. Yeah. I mean, I would pull the trigger on that really quick. I think just for the uniqueness.

And I mean, how often do you see 17 year old whiskey anymore? I mean, I mean, if you're hosting a bourbon night at your house. You call this Pappy Harden, this thing would be gone. Yeah. I mean, I'll be honest with you. If you're hosting a bourbon gathering at your home and you had some fellow friends who are big bourbon geeks.

Yeah, this is definitely for aficionados for sure.

Yeah. And you want to sit around and just drink through three or four expressions. And we haven't had the fourth yet, but I'm just going to assume it's going to be equally nice. But you want to sit through and drink some extra aged bourbons. I think these 200 mil bottles would probably support three or four sessions of tasting with three or four guys. What do you think? Yeah, I'd say so.

It's not cheap. And that's my hope.

Yeah. Yeah. It's not cheap. I'm not trying to play it down. This hits your wallet just a little bit. Right.

Right.

And you know.

Wow. This is really good. Don't go beyond your means.

Do you really have to take this home when we're done? I can maybe leave you a little bit. No, you don't need to. I'm just kidding. I need to go find me my own.

Because Boston was the last drop of the 2023 year. So there may still be some out there. I know when Um, the gift set there dropped that they also had some Boston's come in. So, but I didn't, I missed out on that and I don't know. I've, I've got plenty of bourbons. So I'm kind of like trying to put, trying to put the reins on a little bit and being a little more picky about things.

Well, your collection is quite nice. I'm sure I haven't never had the opportunity to actually visit your bar, but I imagine it's quite a sight to see.

Hmm.

It's mostly in the basement, but the- Most of us have our bars in the basement, yeah. But I don't even have a finished basement, it's just in the basement. Some of my nicer things are upstairs on a nice cabinet.

Yeah. Well, I do things a little differently here. Now, we do have the Bourbon Road bar here, but it took me a while to get this. I mean, this used to be like country kitchen down here, right? And this side of the Bourbon Road bar where we're sitting now and recording is more or less unchanged. But that side used to be the country kitchen where the bar is now. And somewhere along the way, Melody just gave in. I think I just asked and asked and asked. Guys, don't stop asking if you want your bar.

Can I have a bar?

Can I have a bar? Can I have a bar? Can I have a bar, please? And then eventually, maybe, if you're lucky, she'll see it your way. Melody's quite the bourbon drinker and lover herself. That helps. Bless her heart. Yeah. So anyway. It's nice to have something like this, but what makes it upstairs for me are only the daily drinkers. Those things which I want to reach easily to have a pour.

months ago we did the wild turkey, so did you get you a rare breed to move up there? I didn't.

I actually went to the gift shop and we hung out with Stanton. Stanton bought the rare breed. He brought it back here and we had it together because had I had a bottle, he wouldn't have had to buy one. But anyway, now I don't have another rare breed, but I do need to get one. I'm still surprised that they were able to make the 116.8 batch last five years. And I keep saying that five years now on the same batch.

I know the way they change things up, you think it might be time to.

I know it is time to tweak it. I mean, I mean it is time and we know that's coming. I hope it drops down a little closer to one 12 again, but I'm assuming they're 200 barrel batches. I think while Turkey does 200 barrel batches.

Really?

That doesn't seem like... That seems like, I don't know. How can that last five years?

For five years, I know. Because it's such an iconic brand. Everyone you talk to, it's just for the price, it's just hard to beat.

Yeah. But yeah, I was talking to Beau and Beau said they still got a little bit there, but when it's gone, they're going to have a new batch. Okay. That's exciting. Wow. This is so good. I go back to the nose on this one. And it's, it's phenomenal. It's just, the nose is really, really good on this. Yeah, that's, I think, a clear favorite for me. And I can understand why the others.

It all works really well together. Yeah. I mean, not saying those first two, there was nothing off putting on either of those. No. Just, but this is like, about as close to the perfect pour as you could have. It's just everything works well. It works together. It's seamless. I think that's a good word.

Yeah. When you think about our conversation going back over these three, I think about the Claremont and saying, boy, that would go great with the Tomahawk steak, right? And then drinking the Frankfurt and saying, boy, that would be great with the cigar. Now we're on the Boston. I'm going, boy, this is awesome all by itself.

By itself. That's exactly what I was thinking.

You don't need anything else with this. Well, you really don't need anything else with the others. I was looking for a reason to say, how would it be better? But this is good. This is phenomenal. This is like a nightcap. All right, folks. So if you can lay your hands on a Hardin's Creek, Boston, man. Do so. Do so. No doubt about it. If you're looking for a good piece of information coming out of the Bourbon Road podcast, a good recommendation on what you should buy next. If the price tag of 170 is within your budget, I'm not asking anybody to go out there and stretch your budget or buy something that's outside of your normal purchasing realm. But if that's a normal purchase for you in the 170 range, I would say make this your next bottle, if you can find it.

I'd agree. And if you don't like it, just contact Jim or I and we'll take it off your hands.

Or let me know what town you live in. We'll come do a roadie. We'll do a roadie show in your town so we can drink it.

Wow. The nose on that is just, the empty glass nose on that is phenomenal. I'm going to go back probably after the show is done and sniff all three of those again. Cause I'm like you, I think you may have been the one that kind of got me started going back to an empty glass. Like I'll even leave it sitting out all night and then going back that next morning. It's fun. It's really interesting to see what you get.

It's like stripped down. It's stripped down naked. It's just the bourbon. There's no ethanol. There's no... It's just... Scent and... Yeah. Wow. This is really good. All right. I'm ready for the grand finale here. All right.

Like I said, this one's a little different. This one's called the Distiller Share. This is batch four. So what they did is they took all three and they took 10%. However much 10% of this batch came from the Claremont, 30% from Frankfurt, and 60% came from the Boston. So I'm kind of like, this should be, I mean.

Do you think that's their vote on them?

I don't know. It's kind of odd that way.

It could have something to do with inventory quantity. True. But it could also have something to do with how much they appreciate each version.

Because it would be interesting, because the Frankfurt place is not, I mean, there is one rick house there. But it's not a, it's, I mean, it's more a bottling and they do a lot of just, yeah, some of that cheaper stuff bottles there, you know, tankers come in and out. So.

Well, we've learned in the past with blending that if you take amazing bourbon A and mix it with amazing bourbon B, it doesn't mean you're going to get amazing bourbon C. Sometimes you get not so great bourbon B.

As someone who's blended, I can attest to that.

That's just me on a small scale. All right. Let's check it out. Cheers. Cheers. Okay. This has got a real like distinct aromatic note. A little bit more of a fresh note like that first one. I'm getting kind of the nose of...

Which is odd because it has the least amount. Yeah.

I'm getting that Claremont nose on it. Caramel corn?

Yeah, but just not like I'm not talking like super grainy. I don't know.

It's like cracker jacks or like, yeah, but it's got this, uh, this refreshing note to it.

Almost like a, like the floral honey, maybe like a floral.

Yeah. The floral honey. Uh, it's not the same as it was in the Claremont. It's a little bit different, but I would say that on the nose, the Claremont does sort of overpower the other two. Yeah, I would say that too. Yes.

They may even have the best nose of the three.

Yeah.

Okay. I'm ready to. Let's taste it. Let's do this. Cheers. Cheers.

Okay. So the texture component is there. Which is probably coming from the Boston. Yep. A nice mix of the pepper and cinnamon notes from both the Boston and the Frankfurt. I think the, the Claremont gets lost on the palette a little bit and the Boston and the Frankfurt sort of take over.

There's a little added kind of bitterness to it. Yeah, there is. It's interesting.

Uh, like that's it. That a plus B doesn't always equal C. Yeah.

It's kind of sitting mid-palate on me. Yeah, mid-palate. It does hit the sides of the tongue like the Frankfurt did. Yeah. That second sip and that first sip after you've had a few things, I'm getting a little more intensity now. A little more oak. It should be noted all these are pretty much fresh cracks. We did open them up a little bit before we started recording. I'm trying to think of where this is going to sit in the grand scheme of the four. It's good, but it does knock Boston from its perch.

Now, I think it honestly leans more Frankfurt than does anything for me. Which is interesting. Yeah.

And what was the percentage of the Frankfurt?

30. Yeah. 60, 10, 30. So 10. Claremont. Claremont, 30, Frankfurt, 60, Boston. Yeah, I think the Frankfurt kind of took over a little bit.

So much of the Boston went in for the mouth feel, although it doesn't feel the textures close, but that Boston texture was silky smooth.

It's amazing. I mean, yeah, you figure. I mean, at 10%, Claremont took over the nose, and at 30%, Frankfurt took over the palate. But Boston's there. You can tell. Yeah. Wow. It's amazing. I wish I could have been in the room as they were blending this and talking about it. Right. I'd love to hear that conversation.

Maybe if you see Freddie, you can ask him why the percentages and like you said, it may come just come down to the volume they had of each. Cause I've never seen any kind of numbers on like how much of the Frankfurt was really, how many bottles and, or the NM. So.

I mean, the depth of their inventories is so amazing. The fact that they're able to do something like this from 17 years ago just blows me away. Yeah. Because 17 years ago, let's think about it. 17 years ago was 2006, 2007. Bourbon was kind of in a semi-recovery. I was going to say starting to pick up a little, yeah. Starting to pick up. Yeah, maybe they were laying down a few more barrels in anticipation of things getting better. But would they have been thinking about 2024 at that time?

You know, that's hard to imagine. Like you said, Hey, let's put some here. Let's put some there. Let's like, I don't know, whoever had the forethought should get a raise or a very hardy pat on the back.

Maybe it was just a happy accident. They're like, they're making more whiskey than they had room in the warehouse. It's like, since this batch is, is really good white dog, let's send it through these three places in the store. See what happens. Right. Yeah, I'd love to go back in time and be there for those conversations, like when those decisions are made and understand, you know, what they're thinking. We'll never know. And Freddie may not know either. Yeah. A lot of the people that worked back in 2006 maybe making those decisions are no longer in the industry. That's true. Well, the Hardin's Creek is a solid expression, or I should say a solid family of expressions. from James B beam distilling, I think it has been elevated to an upper top shelf version of their product. And, uh, I don't see it very often out there. I guess I'm not looking for it, but it's, uh, it's, there's not gobs and gobs of bottles on the shelf.

No, not a whole lot. Um, I think this is one of those, even if, you know, you don't want to throw $170 at a bottle, maybe if there's a decent price at a bar, you know, got a bonus check at work or something, this is something to give a whirl.

I think any of these would make you happy. So $170 bottle at a bar, what do you think a pour is going to cost? I would say 40, 50.

I mean, ounce pour probably.

One ounce pour, you get 25 ounces from a bottle. So that's a $1,200 take on a $170 bottle. Is that typical? Yeah.

I don't know. I'm not in the bar business, but I'm just curious. You say when I'm there, I'm not thinking about it.

I'm just like, Ooh, that looks good. I would hope you could pick this up for 20 or 25 Lepore. Yeah.

I mean, it depends on where you're at. Like if you're probably in Louisville or a bigger city, you know what I'm saying? Yeah. Like if you found this at, if either you or I found this at, uh,

Shelbyville bar or Frankfurt bar 25, 30 might be the trick, but. So have you heard any negative comments on the Hardin's Creek line other than the price?

Um, there was a little, you know, blowback on they, when they dropped the first Hardin's Creek, uh, they also dropped like a, a two year product, which is fine. It's fun, but it kind of like for the price. That was like Jacob's well or Jacob's something. And the story that went along with it had to do with the original water well, right? Right. And two-year product at 60 bucks is kind of like an oddity for them because, you know. As we said, they have a lot of barrels, so I'm like, you could have probably kept that at a little lower price. I get the uniqueness of it and that kind of thing.

So the Hardin's Creek was the no boys talking and then the Jacobs, whatever, I'm trying to remember what it was. Yeah, Jacobs Well or something. Jacobs Well was the accountants talking, right? Yeah, I guess so. Maybe. I don't know. We'll never know. We'll never know. This is fantastic. Yeah, definitely a big giant thumbs up recommendation from I think both of us. If you can get your hands on at least a pour of this, you probably should. And if you see the Claremont or the Frankfurt or the Boston, any of them are winners, but the Boston is I think that's the clear. That's the gold medal. It's a daddy, big daddy, mama jamma. I think so. Yeah, I think so too. Well, this has been fantastic. Thank you so much for sharing your whiskey with me today. My pleasure, always. That's what roadies do though, right? That's what we do. I appreciate it. Well, I want to give you an opportunity, and I always do, to let people know where to find you. Obviously, you're heavily involved in the Frankfurt Bourbon Society. Correct. But individually, people can reach out to you. Yeah. I'm just on Facebook, Todd Ritter.

I have a lot of photos of my kids and what we're into. But the Frankfurt Bourbon Society has its own Facebook page. And we have events quite often, as we have discussed in previous shows. And then I do have kind of a fun Instagram page where I just kind of post sometimes what I'm drinking or reading or who I'm hanging out with. The dripping barrel.

The dripping barrel. The dripping barrel on Instagram. On Instagram. And, you know, as an active member and leader within the Frankfurt Bourbon Society, you lead some events and you've got an event coming up, right?

We've got one coming up with Broken Barrel. And then I'm trying to plan a little excursion to Pursuit United soon to go check out their new place. And I like those guys. I like what they're doing. Kenny does a great job with his podcast, he and Ryan.

Yeah, we're big fans of the Bourbon Pursuit and I know that they've got more of an immersive experience there where they kind of help you put together a bottle. It's kind of a, it's very unique. I know Stanton was on the show here a couple of weeks ago and one of our sponsors and he went down and spent the day with Pursuit and they did the whole build your bottle experience. I think they call it the shebang, the whole shebang. The whole shebang.

Yeah.

So you've got something like that going. It's for members of the Frankfurt Bourbon Society. It is.

And then we've also got an event coming up with McBrayer legacy spirits. And yeah, so we're always trying to get into something. And we just had the folks, or the young lady you interviewed for Casey Jones. She came and shared her bottles with us and it was a great event and I was very surprised at those expressions.

Yeah. Looking forward to the eclipse this year.

Yeah. Absolutely. It's going to be neat.

Well, as we mentioned in past shows, the Frankfurt Bourbon Society is open to membership from outside the area of Kentucky. So feel free to go to frankfortbourbonssociety.com. Right?

Did I get that right? Yes. And, you know, if you come into Kentucky once or twice, you know, Well, I can always meet you at the building and we can have some pours. I mean, I've had quite a few bourbon roadies come and stop by and always try to meet up with folks when they come in when I can.

And in addition to having a lot of barrel picks, the Frankfurt Bourbon Society has a lot of barrel picks. You guys also own an awful lot of barrels of whiskey in aging right now.

You'll have to come. We're getting ready to distill probably next month. Oh, awesome. I definitely like to do that. So we can watch some water boil. Fantastic.

Drink whiskey.

That's the best part.

All right, Todd. Well, thank you again for coming on the show.

It's always a pleasure. I'd love to have you as a regular guest. We always have such a great time. Thank you. I appreciate that.

Folks, you can find the Bourbon Road on all social media outlets. You can find us on Instagram, Twitter, YouTube, Facebook, threads, TikTok. We try to do them all. Every single week we put out an episode. On Wednesdays, we'll have a guest on like Todd. We'll drink through some whiskeys. We'll have a great time. We'll dive into a subject. that's near and dear to our hearts, but it's always a good time. We hope you scroll up to the top of that app and hit that subscribe button so every single week you get a notification letting you know that the Bourbon Road has dropped another episode. We'd love to have you as a roadie. Roadies are kind of our friends, our fans. They're also people we share whiskey with. You can find us on our private Facebook group, The Bourbon Roadies. Just go onto Facebook, search out The Bourbon Roadies. You'll have to answer a few questions. Are you over 21? Do you like bourbon? And do you agree to play nice? Because The Bourbon Roadies is just a fun place for people to hang out, share information about the whiskeys they're drinking. Every single week, like I said, we drop an episode. We'd love to have you listen every single week. But until the next time, we'll see you down the Bourbon Road.

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