402. A Review of Five New Whiskeys

So what are you doing with your glass here? Explain to the folks.

So actually you kind of made me start doing this. I have my hand covered over the Glencairn at this moment and I'll hold it there for five, 20 seconds and I will lift it up here shortly and it kind of like holds that the aromas in the Glencairn a little better. And yeah.

So when you've got a really light nose, this concentrates it a little bit.

Yes. Yeah.

Hello friends and welcome back to another episode of the Bourbon Road podcast. I'm your host, Jim Shannon. And I'm your host, Todd Ritter.

We've got a great show for you today. So grab your favorite pour and join us.

All right, folks. Well, the clock is ticking. Only two more months until this year's Kentucky Bourbon Festival in Bardstown, Kentucky. The festival is September 13th to the 15th. We hope you'll join us there. I'll be there along with the rest of the bourbon road team enjoying over 200 whiskey expressions from 60 different distilleries. Samples are available for tasting and this year they're going to have Kentucky bourbon festival exclusive single barrel picks for purchase. Make sure you're there to check it out. 30 different events tied to this year's festival. And tickets are on sale now. Make sure you don't let them sell out before you grab yours. We look forward to seeing you there at the Bourbon Capital of the World in Bardstown, Kentucky, September 13-15. Find out more at kybourbonfestival.com.

All right, Todd, are you ready to review some whiskeys today? Yeah, it's been a while since you've done some, so I thought let's kind of bring it back and see what the folks out there think.

Absolutely. So yeah, we typically like to gather a few bottles that, well in this case, bottles that don't make like an episode on their own, right?

Less of a theme. Less of a theme.

And we accumulate these bottles and then every now and then we get a chance to run through a few of them and do some reviews and hopefully Hopefully there's a couple bottles in this episode that you haven't heard of or you haven't tried and we'll be able to enlighten you just a little bit. Some of these Todd and I haven't tried either. Correct. So we're going to be just as surprised as you. I always say we try to drink them before the show so we don't get taken by surprise. But I'll tell you, we've kind of vetted these bottles just a little bit. Even though we haven't opened them yet, we kind of know they're not going to be

Right. We're not quite flying out of the seat of our pants on these.

Exactly. Well, the companies that make these whiskeys are tried and true. Or where they get them from is tried and true because these are not all in-house distilled whiskeys. But in the first half today, we've got a couple of whiskeys that are made in Kentucky. We've got both a rye and a bourbon, and these go by the label High and Wicked. I am wicked. Have you heard of this label before?

I've tried a few of their products, some of their older source stuff, but this is the first time I've seen these two bottles. So these are both new to me. Okay. So we're going to start with a bourbon today.

And this bourbon is, uh, they're kind of their small batch and it is listed as, uh, age for five years. It is 52% alcohol or 104 proof. It has a pretty interesting mash bill though.

It is 51% corn, so just barely bourbon.

but it has 39% rye. High rye. And 10% malted barley, which is substantial as well. Yes. So I'm really looking forward to trying this one. Uh, it does say, I will tell you about this label. Everything you want to know about this whiskey is on the label. Yeah. Except for a story. There's not much of a story here, but what they do tell you is that, um, expect some cloudiness if it gets chilled because it's non-chilled, the chill filtered. Um, It's all done in copper column stills and with a doubler. It's aged in new white oak barrels with a medium toast and a number four char. So we get the mash bill, we get the proof, we get the nonchill filtered, we get the age, we get everything about this whiskey. They even tell us on the bank. It says distilled in Kentucky, bottled by High and Wicked, Harrodsburg, Kentucky, with Kentucky-grown corn and rye. So we do know this is Kentucky whiskey. We know their rye is actually, and we'll talk about that in a few minutes, is actually distilled by New Riff. I don't know if this one's New Riff or not. Now, you've got it up to your nose. What do you think?

I kind of thought so. There's some similarities, but I'm kind of It's got a great nose. I want to, I've been cheating and nosing this one for a minute. So I'm looking forward to see if, and see if it does have that new riff character, maybe.

Ooh, man. That's, that's got a, a very dark fruit, rich nose to it.

Yeah. I was thinking some like dark cherry pie crust, little caramel drizzle on, on top. It's, it's a great nose for, 104 proof.

It almost, it almost knows it's like it's older than five years too.

Agreed.

Yeah. It is kind of dark. I would say for a five year bourbon, it's got, it's at least dark enough for a five year bourbon. If not, maybe a little bit longer. That number four char is, uh, it's taken hold of this whiskey just a little bit. It does have a kind of a rich sweetness on the nose though. Both floral, spicy, fruity. It's got a little bit of everything there. Yeah.

It's a lot going on and MSRP on this.

Uh, I think this is around $82, at least on total wine. That's the number on total wine. So I'm not sure what their MSRP is.

I might try it. Yeah. Cheers.

Oh yeah. Oh, that's nice. That is nice. A lot of spiciness in this, a lot of spiciness from the barrel and from the grains. You get this impression of sweetness up front, but the sweetness drops off real quick. So it's like, it must be coming from that toasted barrel. You get that wood sugars up front and then it just sort of drops off.

Oh man, that is really impressive.

That's a good whiskey.

Yes, sir.

Wow. Well, let's talk about the price for a minute. So $82 for 104 proof five-year-old. What do you think?

If you go by the $10 a year, that's a little high, but I mean, you see some other, I mean, even the big, uh, big distilleries are going beyond that on occasion. So, um, But yeah, I mean, this is something I was going to say, this is something I may have to look for, for sure.

It really reminds me of something though. A lot of times I'll say, this is really different than anything I've had before, but this reminds me of something I've had before. And it's probably going to be something in the high rye arena, but I'm not getting the new riff bite on this.

No, I'm not either. I think I have a guess, but we'll leave that in the data banks and maybe we'll find out more at some point.

Well, maybe after we drink the rye, we can come back to this and have a second thought on it. I really liked this a lot. I think that high rye plays a big part in, uh, in delivering, uh, the palette on this 51% just barely bourbon.

The nose doesn't transition a whole lot from the palette. I mean, you're still getting those dark fruits, caramel, um, a lot of oak character. Like you said, probably that four char shining through.

Well, a lot of people are claiming high rye anymore, but not everybody's really, this is definitely, I mean, it's right across the neck label high rye. This is a high rye. 39% get you, you get, you get, you get the permission to talk high rye.

Yeah. Very impressive. Yeah. That's going to be one to seek out and like blind pour a lot of friends and be like, guess where this came from?

Well, you said you had one in mind and I won't make you disclose what you have in mind, but let's talk about a few Kentucky distilleries that it could be because we have a number of contract distilling facilities here in Kentucky that will produce whiskeys on contract.

Yeah. And you're starting to see a lot more of their. contract distilling out there with labels now.

Well, we mentioned New Riff and there's obviously Bartstown.

Bartstown, Green River.

Green River.

Out of Owensboro. Also, but it's owned by Bartstown. Sure. same cart, two different horses kind of thing.

Yup. And has Wilderness Trail gotten out of contract distilling or are they still heavy in it?

I'm pretty sure once they were purchased by Diageo, they maybe kept their same contracts, but they're I know McBrayer, you just talked to McBrayer. I know he's moved his elsewhere and it's been, I mean, he still has some wilderness trail barrels that were just still for him, but I know his source has changed. I'm not sure about some of the others, like Luca Mariano, that source. Right. Yeah.

Castlin Key is another.

Castlin Key could be a possibility. Could be. Yeah.

And there are some other small ones. We know there are some other smaller distilleries that are producing on contract. But anyway, it could be one of those. You mentioned it might be from Western Kentucky, and that's a good possibility.

Yeah. That'd be my guess. I don't know. Honestly- I don't get paid to guess, but that would be my guess.

Well, anyway, maybe we'll get a chance to chat with them about it. They are very transparent on their labels, but maybe in this case, they're not allowed to say. Right.

NDP is getting away sometimes. That's right.

I want to say that's probably the case because with them labeling the distillery on one label, but not on the other, that probably means they're not able to. Let's talk a little bit about who is behind High and Wicked. Let's talk a little bit about the name first. So the name High and Wicked from going to the website basically refers to a bucking bronc or a bucking horse. But the company was founded in 2019 by two former Brown Foreman execs who were both in very instrumental in the whiskey business in the 1990s, particularly with Jack Daniels and other brands at Southern Comfort, I guess. Southern Comfort. Yeah, but they did though, these guys were more or less heavily involved in the international markets, Europe and Asia. But anyway, it's W.L. Lyons Brown III and Kevin E. Sachs. So Sachs and Brown together have formed High and Wicked and they are sourcing their whiskey for the moment.

That almost sounds like a great name for a bourbon, Saxon Brown. Sounds like something from the days of yore.

Yeah. There may be some limitations on who can use the word Brown. I don't even know. But they state that they don't use any whiskies that are less than five years old. And some of their whiskies are upwards of 20 years old. So they've got some pretty good stocks. They've got some good chops in the business.

Yes. And it looks, from what we looked at, looks like they source a lot of different juice from a lot of different places. I've said something about Irish whiskey, Scotch whiskey, right? So they've got their hands on a lot of different barrels.

But this company likes to do a singular limited releases based on, uh, some surprisingly good barrels that they come across.

Yeah, they did great with this one. That's for sure.

They did, but this is their small batch. I mean, my goodness that that's really good. I wonder if this is, it says five years old, but I wonder if it doesn't have some older stuff, older stuff might have. I wish I could come, I wish I could come up with who this tastes like. I might eventually.

That's a big thumbs up for me.

Yeah.

It's a big thumbs up. Yeah.

It kind of reminds me a little bit of wild turkey.

Ooh.

I don't think so, but maybe it's rare. Yeah. It does happen.

Yeah. It does happen. And well, those are big name guys.

They really only have two mashbills though.

That's true. I'm doing special. Yeah.

And they're high rise, nowhere near 39%.

Your high-rise way behind this high-rise in the percentage.

Well, I'm really delighted and surprised to get my hands on a whiskey I haven't had before that really is a standout. This is a standout.

I agree.

Have you seen it reviewed on any other shows?

Not yet.

No. Well, I'm impressed. Folks, if you can get your hands on a bottle of this, you won't be disappointed. Not at all. At $82, a bit pricey, but this is one that packs a punch. It definitely stands tall and stands on its own. It has a profile that's quite unique, except for that one whiskey I can't remember that it tastes like.

Right. And it might drink a little hotter than it's 104 proof. This is one of those, I think, to some pallets.

Yeah.

Yeah. I mean, you're getting some bang for your buck for sure.

Drinks a little older and a little hotter.

Yeah.

Great oak influence on it though. Yep. All right. So what do you say? Should we, uh, should we dive into the rye next? Well, beans, you're a big rye guy and myself. So we're both rye guys.

I think we got to.

All right. Well, I'm going to, I'm going to have a little drink of water first because I don't do enough of that hydration. I get in trouble a lot because I don't hydrate enough.

How about you? I forgot my water. It's over there, but I'll get some at the midway point.

Well, that's the first step in not hydrating is forgetting your water. That's true. Okay, so this is the High and Wicked Kentucky Straight Rye, and I'm going to do the whole transparent label dissertation here. So this is, again, all copper stills, copper columns, and a doubler. Aged a new toasted white oak, number four char barrels for five years. Nonchill filters and warnings about cloudiness. This one is at 49.1 or 98.2 proof.

Well done on the math.

Yep. And if we flip her over, it is distilled by New Rift Distilling in Newport, Kentucky. Bottled by Hyund Wicked in Harrodsburg, Kentucky. And they all use proprietary Kentucky limestone water for proofing. That must mean they have their own limestone water. Must be.

I mean, it's Kentucky, so limestone's prevalent.

But what does proprietary mean? It means it's their own blend or their own well or probably their own well, right?

Maybe. Yeah. It'd be a great question to ask them if we get them on.

Oh my goodness. That nose has got something going on. Rye cracker.

Rye cracker?

Yeah. You know, the, uh, you know, when you go to the, when you go to like Kroger and you go to their cheese area and they've got all the crackers that are specifically meant for cheeses. Yes. You know, the ones with the, uh, the toasted crackers with the rice seeds on them.

Yes.

This is what, that's what it reminds me of. Okay. Nice.

I'm getting a little spearmint on this too.

Yeah. Now this does nose like a new riff, just a little bit. Yeah. It does have a minty nose to it. I'd say it's fairly traditional.

Yeah.

A little bit of a serial note on it, but cheers. Cheers. Okay. It's a little thin, thin.

Yeah. They've cut this one.

Obviously they may have cut this a little more than the bourbon and it doesn't have, it's more on the dry side, less on the sweet side. This is a, has a little bit more of a cool wash to it. It does. Yeah. Kind of reminds me. of, uh, yeah, obviously it reminds me of a new refry, but.

Maybe they're bottled in bond.

Yeah.

Be nice comparison. I'm sure.

Yeah, probably so.

But it does have a really nice cooling aspect.

Cool and fresh and light. This is a, this is a, an easy, easy drinker.

Just a hint of the grain. I get a little bit of hint in the grain.

Yeah, definitely. This, this has that serial note to it, both on the palate and on the nose. I expected more sweetness on it though. See, I'm getting them. I was just thinking this is kind of sweet.

I mean, I would say like not overly, but yeah, a mild sweetness, I guess.

I'm just not getting it on the front of the palette. Yeah.

It's all kind of in the back. Yeah. Okay.

So yeah, I am a rye guy, but I have to say, I like the bourbon just a little bit better.

Well, it is a high rye bourbon, so that might be rye. I just said might be rye. That might be rye.

One more percent less corn and it would be rye.

It would be. But this is still a nice pour.

Yeah. So what happens if you have 50% corn and 40% rye and 10% malted barley? What do you have?

I guess you just have a whiskey.

You just have an American whiskey. Because it has to be 51. So one, no, less than 1%, right? Right. Well, it has to be more than 50% or does it have to be 51?

I thought it was 51. Yep. I wonder if you could get to 50.5% and then carry, you know, round up.

Ooh, it'd be dangerous. Practically an American whiskey.

Probably not because sometimes you will see them put the decimal points in match bills. So it's probably has to be 51 or higher. Exactly. Like 50 and a half, your American whiskey.

Now this rye has, let me see if I can read this. This is a 91% rye, 9% malt. Okay. 91, nine. They're another unique.

Yep. You don't see that one very often.

Well, my hats off to these guys at, uh, high and wicked. They are very transparent in their labeling and they put together some really good whiskeys. The rye for me is, uh, It's just okay.

It's good.

I would say above average. Yes. It's definitely above average, but I mean, it's not gonna, it's not gonna, it's not blowing me away the way that bourbon did. Right. See, that's what happens when you send us two whiskies and one of your whiskies is significantly better than the other one. It kind of, yeah, maybe we should have had the right first.

It was lower proof. So maybe so maybe we should have hindsight.

I would still say if, if you like, um, if you like light, refreshing minty rise, uh, this would be something to definitely give a try. It's a little bit pricey for mixing. I wouldn't do that. Well, it's your bottle. You do what you want with it, but, um, I'm not going to say it's good for mixing. It might, you might do an occasional old fashioned with it.

It's starting to get a little fruitier as we're sipping, I think. like lighter fruits.

I'm starting to pick it up a little anise in it.

Yeah. A little green apple.

Yeah.

Okay. So maybe we should allow this to sit just a little bit.

Uh, the legs on the glass are kind of kind of thin as well. I don't know. I think maybe 98% on this one might have been a little too far, but I didn't do the proofing. I didn't prove it down and taste it along the way. So maybe they made the best choice possible. Yeah.

It might've been interesting to try it at the same proof as the bourbon at 104.

Yeah.

But their choice, their distillery or their brand.

Well, their bottles are great. Their bottles basically look like a, um, like an old Forrester bottle.

Yeah. Kind of the same shape. Yep. Labels are well done.

Nice and colorful. Uh, the bourbon is in a blue label with black and gold and the rise in a red label with black and gold. I mean, all around well done on this brand. I agree.

And I really liked the transparency.

Now I really want to get my hands on one of their select limited releases.

Definitely.

Yeah.

Something to keep our eyes out for.

Well, you can find out more about High and Wicked at highandwicked.com. That's H-I-G-H-N-W-I-C-K-E-D.com, highandwicked.com. Not a lot on the website. They do talk about their whiskies. They talk about their story a little bit. They talk probably more about their vision and what they're trying to do. And they also tell you where you can buy it.

I was going to say, we didn't really deep dive into where it's available, but I have seen it out and about in Kentucky, I believe.

Well, I'll tell you what they say. Select high and wicked bottles are now available to purchase online with shipping to most states in DC. Unfortunately, we cannot ship to Alabama, Alaska, Hawaii, Idaho, Kansas, Massachusetts, Michigan, Mississippi, Oklahoma, Pennsylvania, South Carolina, and Utah. So I guess if you're not in one of those states that I mentioned, you should be in good shape, which is a pretty good, uh, it's for buying online. Uh, yeah. And, uh, it looks like the price is on the website. Uh, they're straight Bourbons, 8174. And they're straight rise 81 cents, so we said $82 for both of them. So that's about where they're sitting, right at the $82 mark.

It's one of the first times you'll ever see something priced at 74 cents rather than 99 cents. It's kind of weird. Exactly. All right.

Well, that's a decent review, Todd. Yeah. I'm glad to have this bottle. I'm going to put this with the roadie. How many bottles do you think we have in the roadie bar now? Just guessing by looking at them. It's like an easy 25, maybe 25 or 30. We still have four or five months, four months. So roadies, if you have any plans on attending bourbon on the banks this year, you're definitely going to want to come by the bourbon road tent. We'll have the roadie bar set up again this year, and we're going to have all these bottles that have been on the show during the year. We're going to have them there as well. So you'll get to try them. They're in Frankfurt, Kentucky on October the 5th. I think it's the 5th, Saturday the 5th.

I should know this. First Saturday in October. First Saturday in October.

Yeah, that's the best way to say it. First Saturday in October. But don't plan on just Saturday. Plan on Thursday, Friday, Saturday, Sunday, because you can make the most out of the week.

Yeah.

It all starts with a kickoff party on Thursday night at Whiskey Thief with the pretty goods playing, drinking some good Whiskey Thief rye whiskey and bourbon whiskey. Yeah.

Awesome.

All right, we're going to take a short break when we come back. Todd has three more spectacular pours for us to talk about in the second half. Hope we can surprise you. Stick around. All right, whiskey friends, we are back. Todd and I had a great little break there. We actually had three whiskeys set aside for the second half. We still have three whiskies, but we did do one change out.

Yeah, we pre-sampled one we weren't too sure about. And we were worried that it might get lost in what some of the other the first two pours.

Yeah, so not that it was not a good whiskey. It just, it didn't really fit with the other two. Agreed. Is that the best way to say it? Yeah, I think so. So yeah, so we've got three whiskies for you this half. All three whiskies are made by companies that you're all very familiar with. I think you're going to be delighted at the choices. I haven't had two of these. No, I haven't had all three of these. So these, these are all three new to me. Now, two of them are fresh cracks. What about that one there?

Yes, the hardened Creek golden origins, corn whiskey is a fresh crack for me too. So I just got that in a beam, barreled and box set.

Wow. Okay. So we're both going to have a great second half here. I think so. Awesome. So three great whiskeys in this half. We normally don't try to do three whiskeys in a half, but we already promised the folks. So let's do it. Let's get right to it. What's in our first glass, Todd?

We're going to make that sacrifice for you. Yeah.

We're going to take one for the Gipper, right?

That's right. That's right. So the first one we have in our glass is Old Forester 1924. This is a 100 proof. It's 10 year old. And it retails for about $119.99 or so.

I've got great expectations here. You have had this one. I have had this one, yes.

Now, the story behind the 1924, as you guys know, there's the 1897, the 1910, and the 1920. And then if you mix them 10 and the 20, you get the 1915.

So the story behind the 1924 is that was during Prohibition time.

So at that time, Bob Forrester was one of the distilleries that was allowed to distill during prohibition for medicinal purposes, and they purchased a lot of barrels from a lot of the other distilleries that were closing at that time. So this is their kind of commemoration towards the blending expertise of that day kind of thing.

It would have been very challenging, I would imagine.

Yeah. They even commented like there were, you know, obviously they were buying from different sources. So lots of different mash bills and different chars.

But in the midst of prohibition, do you think people really cared a whole lot about flavor? I mean, a little bit, of course, but they were more interested in just getting their hands on some whiskey, right?

Yeah, I can't imagine those times. I'd have probably been a bootlegger, to be honest. At least known a bootlegger, I think.

Yeah, I think I might have been with you there for sure. All right, so the 1924, let's go back over the specifics on this here, just so everybody knows.

1924, it's a 10-year-old bourbon. It is Kentucky straight. And it's at 100 proof, so 50% alcohol by volume. And yeah, it's got a nice purple top, very similar to the bottles we just tried, that old Forester bottle kind of shape. And yeah, so it retails for about $119.99.

And this is pretty much distributed nationwide. You can find it just about everywhere.

Yes. And from what I read, it's going to be an annual release. So there should be some bottles still out there, I would imagine.

And do you remember where the 1910 and the 1920 set price-wise now? I'm going to want to say 50-60 range.

I'm going to think in that 50-60 range too. It may have gone up a little bit.

The 1897 significantly less.

Right.

Yeah. All right. Well, I'm already nosing it and I'm delighted. It's a, it's got a great nose to it. It definitely has a deep dark kind of a caramel to it. A little bit of a chocolate note, light chocolate note.

Yep. Brownie kind of a brownie. I like that. Yes. Yeah. But there's that, uh, There's that, I just, it's, I always get it. That Oh Forester banana note. It's just, it's like a sweet banana though.

Which really comes out in the Jack Daniels, right?

Yeah. But that one gets a little more like candy, like banana runt.

A little bit more like artificial banana.

Artificial candy. So I'm sure it's yeast driven type thing, but it's just my, You could probably try to pour me an old Forester of some sort. And I'm, there's a good chance I'm going to say that's where it's from if you poured it to me blind.

Well, the funny thing is, is I, you know, when we were drinking in the first half and we had the bourbon from High and Wicked and, you know, obviously the, the founders of that company have roots in Brown and Foreman, the parent company of old Forester. You kind of wonder maybe just maybe did they get some bourbon out of. out of Brown and Foreman, but I don't think so.

Snuck it in the back of some vans and got out of tent now.

This is really good. This kind of reminds me a little bit of, uh, like a, uh, a younger, less intense King of Kentucky on the nose.

I like that. And I can see that. Yes. King of Kentucky is a very, very special poor, very concentrated, very good.

Yeah. Right.

Cheers. Let's get in here. Cheers.

Oh, Oh, that has a very interesting spice note to it. I almost knew what it was. It's, it's, um, it's, it's kind of an Indian spices, kind of cardamom. Oh wow. Okay. Cardamom and, uh, cinnamon and cardamom and, um, all spice kind of mixed together. Almost on the verge of like root beer, but not really quite there.

Yeah. I'm getting like a almond.

Yeah. Definitely like an almond extract.

Yeah. Maybe with just like, sometimes you'll like make some almonds for a party with like some, like a dusting of like brown sugar and chocolate.

Yeah.

And yeah.

Praline. Praline is pecans though, right? It's kind of crystallized toasted pecans with sugar crystals on it. This does have that kind of a really nice, sweet cooked sugar note to it with a, but man, it's got that, it's got some kind of a kind of exotic spice to it. Almost like an, like just the lightest touch of Ambarana. Oh, okay. But not Ambarana.

Definitely not to that level. Not the Cinnamon Toast Crunch.

No. Wow. That's interesting. And at the same time, very good. I'm wondering if they're able to maintain that profile over time. That is, uh, that's very unique.

I find it interesting. Like, despite this being a 10 year old bourbon, it's not like the oak is not super pronounced. It's there of course, but it's not like, you know, your 13 year old Russell's reserve and some of your older bourbon where you can get a lot of oak character, but this is, Silky, I hate to say silky smooth, but- It is.

Actually, that was the first thing I was going to say, but that's what I wanted to say when it first hit my mouth is it had that real velvety silky texture to it, but that spice note took over my brain. I had to talk about it, but yeah.

And that may have been just because they, I mean, typically if you see some single barrels of Forester, those things can run anywhere from 125 to 135. So this may have been cut quite a bit. So that might might be the reason.

This is a really good whiskey. I have to say that I'm, I'm really happy to see this kind of stuff happening because 10 year old whiskey is being released. And even though the price is one 20, I mean, I fully expect some of these to come down a little bit over the next year or two. I think prices will settle in somewhere. Maybe.

Fingers crossed.

Fingers crossed, five to 10% lower than they are now. I'm hoping for that. But put the money aside for a second. Let's just talk about the availability of 10-year-old whiskeys. It's great.

Yeah.

I mean, this bottle can be had. This can't, yeah. And what happened when it released? Did it go nuts for a while and hard to find or did it pretty much stay on the shelves?

Well, as with most things, there's that initial excitement and Führer, I guess, is a good word. But yeah, it seems to have calmed down a little bit, I think. I picked this one up at Kroger in Frankfurt.

So, and this is part of the Whiskey Row series, an extension of the Whiskey Row series.

You know, it doesn't say, so I don't, maybe like a cousin. It's in the style of. Yeah. I mean, the bottle looks very similar to the others.

It looks like it fits side by side on the shelf next to the 1910 and the 1920.

So maybe like a second cousin to those or something. Yeah.

It's really good stuff. Really good.

It's a nice pour.

100 proof, 10 years old, old Forester, 1924. Big thumbs up from me. I wish it were. 10 to $15 cheaper.

Oh, I was going to say 10 to 15 points higher or proof higher.

That would be nice too.

I agree.

And in which case they could keep the price the same.

Yes. Either way. I will allow it.

We'll allow Old Forster to make the decision which way they go with that.

But if we were executives for a day.

Yeah. Oh yeah, definitely. Um, if $120 bottle is in your budget, if this is something that you can put your hands on and, and I would say pretty much anybody in the, in the U S can get their hands on this bottle. Yes. I would say, uh, if, if $120 10 year old bourbon at a hundred proof is in your budget, this is an interesting poor.

And if it's not.

I highly suggest you go out and find it at a bar and try it.

I think it would be like 25 a pour maybe. I don't think it would be that crazy.

I don't get the spice note in anything else. I mean, it's really unique.

It's maybe one to like set aside and come back to after the show.

Yeah, it's really good. Bravo Forrester. Great job done on this one. Yep. I like that. I like the 1910 and the 1920, 1897. Yeah. I mean, it's good whiskey, but, um, particularly a big fan of the 1910. It's a little sweet for me, but the 1920, I really like it a lot. And when you mix the two together, it's a nice blend. It's a nice blend.

50-50.

Yep.

Yep.

All right, Todd, I'm going to get a drink of water here because I am all about hydrating tonight. That's right. I was ready this time.

I remember my cup of water.

And then you're going to tell us what we have in our next class because you get the first two in the second half.

Yeah. So this is. part of the Hardin's Creek series from Jim Beam. You may recall probably about 10 episodes back or so, Jim and I tried the, we kind of tried all the campus blend series from Hardin's Creek, which is- Boston, Claremont. Yeah, Boston, Claremont, 17 year old Bourbons. And then there was a distiller's share that had a blend of all three of those. Yeah. So this particular expression is a 11 year old corn whiskey called Golden Origins. Corn liquor. Corn liquor. This is old school. Just looking at it already has like a lighter color because they used they used used barrels for this obviously since it's a corn whiskey. I believe it has to have, I don't, there's no, I didn't see the match bill on this, but it has to have at least 80% corn, I believe.

Is that true?

I believe so.

Okay. I'm not a hundred percent up to date on my corn liquor rules.

Right. Don't see them very often. I mean, there's a mellow corn and you know, you'll see a few MC's got one from an Indiana to celery called like Altshuler or something really interesting. But anyway, This is 106 proof. It is 11 year old corn whiskey. And yeah, so I'm very interested in. Yeah. Given this a, given this a world.

Well, fantastic. I will say that I am, uh, I have been totally impressed by all the Hardin's Creek releases up to this time. The nose is really kind of, uh, light and light and, uh, definitely doesn't like jump out at you.

There's like a really sweet, like sweet corn. Like, I mean, I know it's corn whiskey, but there's a distinctive flight. Like you weren't like, I won't say grill. It doesn't have like a smoky note, but like a, you know, when you grill corn, it gets really sweet. I think it kind of brings out the sweetness a little bit.

So grilled corn, Mexican street corn without the spice. Not a lot of oak influence on that. No. So what are you doing with your glass here? Explain to the folks.

So actually, you kind of made me start doing this. I have my hand covered over the Glen Cairn at this moment. And I'll hold it there for 5, 20 seconds. And I will lift it up here shortly. And it kind of like holds that the aromas in the Glen Cairn a little better. And, uh, yeah.

So when you've got a really light nose, this concentrates it.

Yes.

Yeah.

Yeah. It does work. Sweet corn and caramel. Yeah. Yeah. All right. I'm ready to taste it. I know. Cheers. I'm intrigued by this one. Cheers.

Creamy, sweet. corny, corny, definitely corny.

It's corny.

That's a great word, but really sweet.

And that's us used, uh, use barrels. Just if you've ever had like light whiskey or corn whiskey, expect some sweetness.

Yeah, this is, uh, this is going to turn fantastic at about five to eight more years. This is going to become something like, uh, the, Old Carter American.

Yeah. Uh, I know heaven hill. They had a release of like a, it's a, it was a lot 20 year old corn whiskey.

Yeah.

The, that special series they have it. I forget that lost the name of it. Right. I didn't get to try that one, but that sounded really intriguing.

The corn whiskey though, or the, you know, the American whiskey is made with predominantly corn can become magic in the higher age ranges because the, you know, they, they don't get that initial bolt of barrel because they're in used barrels. Right.

There's very little oak influence. Right. It's just almost like colored white dog almost.

It's fun. Very good texture to this. Yeah. Very creamy cream corn. I like that corn pudding. Corn pudding. The good parts of the corn, not the, uh, youthful notes that you get sometimes and, and, and, and extra young, uh, Bourbons, but these are definitely the more, um, I don't know, more well-aged non-youthful notes. I like it.

I like it a lot. It's different. I like that. It's not your typical poor.

I like the Jim beam's doing that. I like that they came out with this, this series, this, uh, expression.

Yeah. I'm excited to see where this goes.

They give them a chance to play a little bit. And I know that, um,

Which is funny because I mean, they play around with the bookers. The little book is a, is a playground for, for Freddie.

And I mean, he's really brought something new and fresh to Jim Beam. Don't you think?

Yeah. Yeah, for sure. I mean, I've heard great things about the little book eight, which is, uh, It's a lot of different stuff in that, but it's mostly rye. So I know, I think it's coming in the next batch of the Berylton box collection that is through Jim Beam that I'll be getting soon. So I guess here on down the road, we'll give that a whirl too.

All right, guys. Listen to me, Gene Beam. If you're not paying attention here, you need to sponsor old Todd here on the barrel and box. He's been cranking out the funds for you for a while and talking great things. Yeah.

I've been pushing it, but it's probably not any membership's open.

Well, they sponsored me for the first year or two in that, and we had a great time with it. But I understand. They've got to make money, too.

Yeah. It's fun. I don't remember what exactly, because this, this came and the other was one of their distillers here, which is a 375 kind of like we were talking about. It's like their playground. So it was a, uh, extended fermentation, uh, 375. So I didn't really deep dive into what that was. I did crack it open recently just to give it a whirl. Uh, the, the best description would be like a fruitier knob Creek barrel pick, I think. Wow. Yeah. Really? Yeah.

I think.

Yeah. Usually you get that kind of like that peanut shell and, but, um, yeah, well, this is good stuff.

Yeah. It's fun. I always liked going down there to the Claremont location and hanging out. I don't know, you call it Claremont or Boston, but we've had a couple of opportunities to go down there. One night they actually sent a car for Melody and I picked us up here at the house, drove us down there. We had dinner at the kitchen table.

I've yet to go there.

Oh, fantastic food. And, uh, just, uh, a really great evening with the team down there and they're, they're, they're awesome. They're good people and, uh, definitely a great experience if you pull off the highway.

Yeah, great. Uh, going in that gift shop, that gift shop is very impressive, but yeah, this is a fun pour. It's a little, a little different than everything else. Well, we probably had, I've had in a while.

Yeah. All right. Well, Todd, shall we, uh, shall we move on to pour number three?

Yes, but let's be sure to hydrate.

Oh yeah. Hydrate, hydrate, hydrate. All right. So this is the bottle that got swapped out. This wasn't originally going to be in today's lineup, but it did make it into the lineup and I'm kind of glad that it did. I am too. This is the Green River Full Proof. It's a Kentucky straight bourbon whiskey, 58.65%, which is 117.3% proof. This is the same mash bill as the Green River Bourbon and the Green River Bottle and Bond. This is not the same as their weeded bourbon that they released recently, but this is And we talked about this a little bit earlier, but what is a foolproof? And I stepped out on a limb and I said, what's the difference between a cast-strength and a foolproof? Well, a cast-strength is literally that. Uncut. Uncut. It's what proof it came out of the barrel at. And a foolproof, at least if you use the Weller foolproof as an example, is the distiller taking the whiskey out of the barrel and returning it to barrel entry proof. So in the case of Weller, it was 114 proof when it went into the barrel. When it came out, it was something higher than that.

More than likely, yeah.

And so they had to add water to bring it back down to foolproof, which is 114. Now I'm stepping out on them and I'm saying the green river, that's what it means. But a quick look at their website and it was a very quick look, didn't reveal what they mean by foolproof.

But yeah, it'd be interesting to, I mean, it might, it might be one of those things that varies per distillery.

I mean, you know, I would, I would say it's highly unlikely that they enter the barrel 117.3. What do you think? Wouldn't you pick a round number? Probably not.

Well, I mean, you think of, uh, Barton's full proof is it's one 25. That's what you see that. And that's that, that is entry proof.

Right. They take it back to entry proof.

Right.

So maybe that's a question for green river. And, uh, you know, maybe we'll reach out to them and get some more detail on this, but I think full proof does typically mean return to barrel entry proof. And Michter said B one Oh eight.

Sounds like a great story. I like it.

Yeah. I like it too. If it isn't that way, it should be. Yeah.

Well, anyway, again, I think it might be, but then I was, I just was thinking like rare breed. Isn't that, it's not barrel proof.

It is barrel proof. It is barrel strength, full barrel. Isn't it? It's not full proof. Rare breed is full proof.

It's a higher proof.

It is, but I, what do they call it?

I don't know because those batches have changed.

They have, they do change every change. Yep.

I just know it's a higher proof. Maybe it's just a higher proof.

All right.

All right. So the green river full proof Kentucky straight bourbon whiskey is a 70% corn, 21% right. 9% malted barley. No age statement on this. I'm going to assume it's. Just a hair-proof offering of their standard.

I would think it's definitely over four, maybe five.

Oh, definitely over four. It's not age-stated, and I would expect Green River to follow all the rules, which means that if it's not age-stated and it's a straight, it has to be at least four years.

And if I'm not mistaken, these literally are probably just hitting shelves. If not now, then maybe a month ago.

Yeah. They literally just sent this bottle to us. So we haven't had it here very long, but we've had it here a few weeks. So they typically get these out to us about a week or so in advance of the release. We don't always get them on the show before the release. Sometimes we have what's called a restriction against us that doesn't allow us to talk about it until after, but I'm ready to try it.

And did you get MSRP on this one?

$45.

That's crazy. Yeah. Crazy, crazy, crazy. Yeah.

Good price. Um, but you know, let's taste it and let's talk about it first. Oh, it's got a great nose. Oh, very, very traditional Kentucky bourbon nose to it.

Yes. But I'm getting like this hint of pepper and cayenne.

which a little spicy. Yeah. It's got a nice, uh, sort of medium amber color to it. It, uh, it does coat the glass legs form softly. I'm expecting it to be a little silky. Cheers.

Cheers.

Oh my goodness. Oily, very oily. Yeah. Wow.

Wow. That's very different. Yeah, it is that any, I, that texture is postulated maybe off, off air that maybe that, um, high and wicked bourbon may have come from there, but that, if it did, that's different.

Well, it's definitely a different mash.

Different mash though.

That may be, but who's making a 51% corn bourbon mash bill anymore. All right. bourbon roadies. Here's the challenge. Post another bourbon in the bourbon roadies Facebook group that has a 51% match bill. The first one to do that will get a t-shirt and a Glencairn shipped out to them.

I'll do one better. I'll even send pores of the old forest for 1924 and the golden origins over here too.

There you go. Fantastic. All right. We're going to take the first one.

That's right. But you got to be right. Got to be right. Got to be right. And you got to be quick. You got to be quick.

Thing is, we release this episode at 1 a.m. in the morning, typically. Not always, but sometimes a little bit later if I'm having a rough night on Tuesday.

I was going to say, advantage to the night owls.

Sometimes on Tuesday nights when I'm editing an episode, I'll just be like, I am so tired. I'm going to bed. I'll wake up in the morning and finish it and then I'll put it out. And I'm sure there's a few people that are like, damn, I wanted to listen to that on the way to work. But anyway, typically 1 a.m. on Wednesday morning. If if you hear this. And you know, another distillery that puts out a bourbon with 51% corn posted in the roadies, that is an intense caramel.

How it's that cherries there, so that's what made me think.

Green river is killing it. Yeah. They're really doing great. So what was it about two years ago? Barstown bourbon got purchased by a Chicago investment company. And then Bardstown Bourbon turned around and bought Green River, which is the 10th oldest distillery in Kentucky. And if you've ever been to Green River, which we have, it's huge.

It is huge.

It's huge.

Formerly the Glenmore distillery, I believe.

I think it was Glenmore. Yeah. Yeah. But big, very, very big and capable of producing a lot of whiskey. But if you get to Owensboro, it's a great place to go. They've got some, uh, some great barbecue there.

Uh, really improved, like the river walk. Uh, I hadn't been there for a few years and went, went for a work conference and was really impressed by the changes. I mean, it had been like probably seven or eight years, like the old executive end days and those were tore down. And I was really impressed. River walk. There's a brewery there. Green river. Yeah.

And, and down or up the river, I should say up the river from green river, not very far, a couple miles, maybe a mile. It's a really big distillery. What is that distillery? I mean, when I say big, it's bigger than Seagrams. It's huge, but they do. I can't remember who it is, but there is one behemoth distillery in Green River and Owensboro. They do a lot of, uh, can't remember. I can't either. All right.

And I was just there and drove past it.

It's huge. Yeah. I mean, you've got to drive right down the street that runs through the distillery.

Yes. But yeah, but when you get to Green River, you realize it also is very big. Yes.

But I can't remember the name of this other distillery, but it's huge.

Okay. So this is a buy. Yeah, definitely a buy.

$45. Is that what I said?

Yeah, this is a buy and buy another.

Buy one for a friend.

Buy some for some friends, like Christmas presents. Great pour.

So what does that tell you if, if let's just assume for a moment that this is the standard green river expression that's been returned to full proof. They've got a bottle and bond, which is obviously aged in a bonded warehouse and, and is a hundred proof.

For what? Like 30 bucks, right?

Yeah.

Yeah.

What does it tell you about this whiskey? It tells you that, you know, proofing can change everything.

Yeah.

But there may be select barrels in this may come from certain ricks in the Rick house. Who knows? Whenever we do these shows, we don't actually have the guest on. We're missing some information.

Yeah. We don't get to ask anybody, but we get to act like we're nowhere we're doing so.

No, Todd, 400 episodes. Um, all these bottles we've got in our collections. I mean, we've had over a thousand whiskeys on the show. I think we know what we're doing.

We have our opinions anyway. Yeah. We have our tastes. We have our palates.

Not everybody agrees with us.

Right.

They say Jim likes everything. Why does Jim like everything that's on the show? Well, it's because we don't let anything on the show we don't like.

Yeah.

Cause we don't want to trash anybody.

No. And I think we've may have talked about it one other time, but there was something from, um, the, uh, the three chamber ride from Leopold.

You didn't care for it.

It was not my jam at all. And I'm usually a grain forward guy. I'm a big spirits of French lit guy, but that was kind of over the top. I found it.

Maybe you and I need to go to Colorado together.

Overly grainy.

So you and I are going to get on a flight. We're going to go to Colorado. We're going to go visit Todd up at Leopold Brothers. We're going to have him change your mind. Change my mind? What do you think?

Maybe I just need to revisit it. Yeah, I don't know. I tried it a few times. I'm not going to lie. It's hard for me to give. That was not a cheap bottle. Well, I was

Very appreciative of that bottle because it, it actually was, what I say was in my top three bourbons of all times, top three whiskeys of all times. And I have yet to get Todd on the show. We've talked a few times, but it's going to happen. But I did get out to 291, distillery 291 again, got to sit down with, uh, Mike Myers. Yeah.

From Halloween fame. I'm sure he's never heard that.

Yeah, I'm sure he hasn't. But yeah, as we're recording this episode, the 291 distillery episode hasn't released yet. But by the time you hear this episode, you will have already heard the 291 distillery episode.

Looking forward to it.

A lot of fun. He really, it was nice because, you know, a lot of times we go to a distillery, we drink their, uh, their main expressions, those things that pay the bills. Right. You know, but this time it was all about experimental. That's fun. Yeah. So lots and lots of fun. He's such a great guy.

It's always fun when you go somewhere to the story or obviously smaller ones are a little easier to do this at, but like they'll take you behind the curtain and be like, this is something we've been working on and that kind of thing. I think it's, it's a, it's a lot of fun to like dive into some stuff that very few people have tried.

Well, I, I really liked this green river. I'm going to say, I'm going to rank the second half.

Oh, I thought you're going to rank all five.

No. Well, I can rank all five.

I think I can rank all five.

Okay. So I'm going to give my number one, then you give your number one. Okay. And then you give your number two and then I'll give my number two. Okay. That way we both get a chance to talk first. All right.

All right, go ahead.

So my number one is definitely the high and wicked bourbon.

Okay. I'm going to go with the screen river.

Awesome.

Yeah.

Yeah. It is really good. No doubt.

But my second place is going to be the high and wicked bourbon.

Okay. And my second place is the old Forester 1924. Okay. And third, my third place is this green river.

My third place would be the Oh Forster 1924.

Okay.

We're actually neck and neck.

We're just alternating a little bit.

Small flips.

Yep.

My, uh, actually it's I'm fourth year fourth. So my fourth is going to be the golden origins, corn whiskey.

Same for me.

Yeah. And then, yeah. So that would make our fifth place for today's show. The high and wicked, right? I'm wicked, right? Not bad. Yeah. Just not as didn't have that wow factor. Some of these others did, I think.

Wow. That's really good. So we're really, um, I mean, we, we differ a little bit, but not by much. I think what the tip me over the edge for the old Forester was that unique spice note it had. It was just unreal. Wow, Green River, you killed it. You really did kill it. That was your number one?

I like it. And I've had some single barrels. If you see some single barrels out there, roadies, I highly recommend you grab one. They have some really unique, fun single barrels. I think, and I think they run about 60, 65 per single barrel. Yeah. Pretty good. Cash proof.

Yeah, but this is $45. So Todd's number one whiskey for tonight, 45 bucks, available just about everywhere in the US of A.

Go grab it.

Go grab it.

Grab two.

Green River, full proof. My number one. was the, uh, high and wicked bourbon at the 104 proof, a little bit more pricey, but $82. Um, you want to go to high and wicked.com to find that one. They'll tell you where to pick it up or you can buy it online. Wow. What a great show. Good whiskies.

Yeah. I hope, uh, you guys enjoy that, you know, it's been a while since Jim's did some, I mean, we talk about bourbon all the time, but it's been a while since he's done some reviews and I'm like, Hey, let's. do a few reviews and see what folks think.

Will you bring a certain energy to the show, Todd? It's great to have you here. It's great to have somebody who has quite the palette. Thank you. And not only that, you're able to bring a few bottles over.

Perks of the trade. Perks of the trade. Yeah. So yeah, you guys let us know. I mean, you know, if there's something out there that we can get our hands on or have, if you want us to review it, let us know. I mean, I think it would be fun to kind of maybe do this maybe once a month or something like that.

Absolutely. And same to you distilleries out there. You guys are great about sending us bottles. If you've got a new release out and you want the Bourbon Road to talk about it, make sure you send it to us. If you've got a great story to go with the bottle, we'd love to have you on the show. We do it all the time, but if not, we'll still do a review and we'll tell everybody what we think about it.

We're good at opinions.

We do have opinions. All right, folks. Well, you can find The Bourbon Road on all social media outlets. You can find us on Instagram, Twitter, YouTube, Facebook, TikTok, threads, all of those. We have a website, thebourbonroad.com. You can find our episodes. You can find our blog articles. Certainly you can find our episodes on there. We do a show every single week on Wednesdays. You definitely keep an eye out for us, but the best way to make sure you don't miss one, scroll up to top of that app. You're on hit that subscribe button. You will get a notification every week when we drop that episode. Like I said, typically one o'clock in the morning, make sure you have notifications turned off. You don't want to get woken up by the bourbon road. But sometimes, you know, it's a little bit later in the next day, but when, when that episode comes out, we hope you'll check it out, uh, share it with your friends. Come on the bourbon roadies Facebook group, hang out with Todd and all the guys. Um, we have a lot of fun in there.

Yeah.

A lot of things going on. A lot of whiskey shared, a lot of whiskey knowledge shared.

After this episode, you can win some pours and win some merch.

Yeah, definitely. So don't forget. We put the challenge down first one to post and you missed it. If you missed it, you didn't hear what the challenge was. Go back and relist of it. That's right. We're not going to talk about it again, but we hope you listen to us every single week until then we will see you down the bourbon road.

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