41. Weller Whiskey Wednesday with Woodrow

So on a daily basis, I'm not drinking high proof stuff. I mean, I love to sip on it. I love to enjoy it. But I typically drink bourbons in the 90 to 100 range as daily drinkers. 101, actually. 90 to 101.

Oh, you love that 101. Yeah, I love that 101.

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

We would like to thank Tommy and Gwen Mitchell from Log Heads Home Center for supporting this episode of the Bourbon Road. Find out more about their fine rustic furniture at logheadshomecenter.com. Hello, everybody. I'm Jim Shannon. I'm Mike Hyatt. And this is the Bourbon Road. And tonight, Mike and I are kicking back Mike's house. Yeah. In front of the fire. We've got good old Woodrow at our feet. He is. He's just laying there like a good dog, ain't he? Yeah, he is. And we're going to drink a little bit of whiskey. And actually, we're going to drink four different whiskies tonight. We are.

I had to twist your arm to do this. But you come over to my house, we're going to drink a little bit of weeded bourbon. Yeah. So what do you think I got for you? I think you got some weller, baby. That's right. So tonight we're going to drink all four expressions that I have. We got the green label, which is a special reserve. We've got the blue label, which has just come out this past year, right? The foolproof, which is a store pick right down from your house, right? That's right. And then we got the antique. which is nice to have. A little higher proof at 107. And then we got the 12 year. I'm looking forward to all four of them actually. A lot of people might not be able to get these bottles. It's the same way here in Kentucky. Well, you didn't just run right out and buy these. I mean, you've been accumulating them over quite some time. It took me almost a year, I think, altogether to get every bottle. I've had several bottles of the Weller Special Reserve over several years. I actually got a store-picked Special Reserve with kind of saving that back. I mean, you got that. I think I bought it on my birthday weekend. Yeah, kind of chucks there in Bowling Green. But this is what I got. I still missing one expression and I'm not going to rush out and try to buy it. If somebody said, Hey, it's right down the road for five or $600. I can't do that. Yeah. But if I find it somewhere and it's the right price, I probably will buy it.

Yeah. It'll come around sooner or later. Maybe one of our listeners will send you a sample. Maybe. Yeah.

Send me a model. Well, I don't know. That's asking a lot. Maybe Weller will send us a model. Maybe they should, right? Yeah, I hope they ought to be the weighted king of Kentucky. Yeah.

So what do you know about Weller here? Uh, well, uh, so it's William LaRue Weller, which is the namesake of one of the Buffalo trace antique collection bottles on these bottles. It's listed as WL Weller. Uh, but he was, uh, he was a distiller back in the early 1800s.

He was born like 1825, right? Yeah.

Yeah. And he went, I guess he was often at, and when he got back from the war or whatever, he was probably about 24 years old. He started distilling whiskey. and I guess he was the first fellow to actually use wheat to make whiskey. Instead of rye. Instead of rye.

Why do you think that be? Just because of what he had available?

You know, it could have been that. I don't know what the real story is behind it, but I think he had He had an opportunity to make some whiskey with some wheat, and probably by the time he tried it, he was like, wow, that's kind of smooth, you know? That's a little bit more delicate and not as spicy.

Yeah.

And probably thought that it'd be a winner. And it was. I think he was very popular. He used to say, honest whiskey at an honest price. He used to have to put a green thumbprint on every barrel head so that people would know it was his. So they wouldn't, you know, the... They're not getting cheated by. Not getting cheated by people, right. Yeah.

Well, if you hear something cracking in the background, that's our fireplace roaring with a wood fire. And Woodrow is definitely now, he's really enjoyed himself. He just laid out on the carpet here.

And we're actually using a different set of mics tonight. We're on lavalier mics, which are basically like the newsman wear on TV, you know, just to free up our hands so we can drink this whiskey instead of fighting with a... Yeah, we'll do a little bit of whiskey drinking tonight for sure.

Mike, won't you tell everybody a little bit about how it's been going on the Bourbon Roadies? I think we're doing really well. We're almost up to, I think we're right at 75 members in there. People are starting to comment. We've got a couple guys that really participate and I'd like to see the rest of the people in there participate a little bit more. I mean, you've talked about that a little bit more conversation, more photos. The more we can get, I think it helps everybody out. If people have questions about cost or if they think something's going to cost too much or if they should buy something, remember that Everybody has different taste buds. So what I think is good or what you think is good, Jim, is not always what they're gonna like.

Well, they can hear us on almost every episode where we talk about our differences. Yeah. Which I think is a good thing for the show and it just goes to show you that everybody likes something different. And everybody likes something at a different price point.

And I think we all, you know, me and you, we'll drink from the bottom shelf all the way up the top. And hopefully this year we'll be starting doing some reviews. And we've talked about that. And how are we going to do it?

Well, you know, I think that we've decided that, you know, we're not going to give a number score as we review a whiskey. We're just going to talk a little bit about the tasting notes we get. We're probably going to review it over a three to four day period, and we'll come together and do a review. And we'll rate a whiskey according to whether or not we feel it's a good mixing whiskey. Yeah, that's fair. If it's a good sipping whiskey. Or if it's something we'd like to share with a good friend, special occasion whiskey, something like that. Kind of like we're doing right here.

Yeah. Not all of these are going to get shared with everybody, right? Right. That's not true. Because if Jim would tell you, I've got four shelves full of bourbon, a bar full of bourbon, another whole case of bourbon underneath our TV and stuff. If there's not an open bottle and you wanted to open it, I'd say, hey, open it right up. Anybody's welcome to my house is surely welcome to whatever I have to drink.

And you know, it's not, if you talk about a whiskey and you say, you know, that's good for making some cocktails, that's not a bad thing. I think a lot of the distilleries are proud to know that their juice is being used in cocktails. In many cases, that's the biggest part of their market. The guys who are sitting back in a easy chair at home sipping on a little bit of fine bourbon are not consuming the many gallons that go through a bar, cocktails, high balls, things like that. That's where the real volume goes. It's respectable to be a mixing whiskey. It's a different type.

I think most people would be surprised if they come to Louisville And most bars in Louisville's well whiskey, well bourbon is old Forrester. Sure. Some places in Louisville or you got over to Frankfurt or Lexington, their well whiskey is Buffalo Trace. Yeah, because that's their kind of their brand over there. So I don't think you're right. A cocktail was made to make whiskey taste better. So do you need to put a $50 or $60 whiskey in your cocktail? You can. Yeah, it's your money.

But not always the thing that needs to be done. A lot of times, a bottom shelf whiskey can go just fine in a cocktail or in a highball and maybe save the more expensive, more complex whiskeys for sipping. You know, and then the really good bottles, the really good bottles, the ones that, you know, quite a fine, something special. Those are for sharing, you know, those are for having, you know, with a good friend or at a special occasion or something like that. So every whiskey has its purpose and well. I think that's the best way for us to rate them. You know, we're not always going to agree on it. Yeah.

So it's I think it would be hard for either one of us to agree completely on something. A lot of times we do.

We sit there and say, this is really great bourbon right here.

But you're going to get different tasting notes than I get. Sometimes we get the same tasting notes. We're both spot on on it. But oftentimes you're a rye guy. I'm a weeded guy. So sometimes a rye is unpleasant to me to where a weeded might be unpleasant to you. You probably think it's too sweet where I'm like, I got that sweet tooth. I want that sweetness.

Well, you know what, Mike? We got a bunch of listeners pounding on the table right now saying, guys, you're supposed to get right to the whiskey. Well, I've been here right with the whiskey.

I've been sitting here drinking it the whole time.

Well, this is the special reserve we were sipping on. This is a special reserve, and this is a bottle that can typically be found at what price?

I think you can find it $22 to up to $30. Yeah. If you're paying a little bit more than that, I don't think that's a crime. A lot of states might have it at $50. Yeah. And I've seen it as much as $200 a bottle.

And it's a solid bourbon, right? It is. So a lot of people don't know that Pappy's, they, this is their birth. It's their mash bill. Yeah. Yeah. So it's the same mash bill, same distillery, same mash bill as Pappy's. So different floor, different warehouse, different floor. I'm not sure. Yeah. I don't know where the, the Weller special reserve comes from, but I mean, I've been in the warehouse and seen the Pappy barrels, but I don't know what else is in there, but it's called poor man's Pappy. I think poor man's Pappy, to the best of my recollection, is a mixture of Weller 12 and Weller 107. I think you take those two in some proportion and it's supposed to make you a poor man's Pappy.

Well, I just sit here and think I'm drinking Pappy and I just close my eyes.

All right. Well, I tell you what, that's caramel as the day is long, isn't it? It is. It's a little bit of cola, kind of vanilla. Vanilla Coke, caramel. How old is this? Was this a six to eight year bourbon?

I thought it was seven years, what I've heard in the past.

I know the wellers typically, the antiques around seven years. So yeah, probably the same. Yeah. There's a little bit of cherry, just a hint of cherry in that.

Oh, this is 90 proof, um, sweet bourbon smooth. I mean, it is. And some people we've talked about that before, smooth being a bad word and bourbon, but man, this is something you could set by the fire and really relax and enjoy. And it's a great expression. Yeah. Um,

It's, so I already took a taste. Cheers, by the way, Mike. Post-taste, cheers. Cheers. It's definitely got that real sweetness up front, you know, that delicate soft sweetness up front that you get from a wiener. But, you know, surprisingly enough, there's a little bit of spice there. I think the spice comes from the barrel though, right? Probably.

You know, this is proof down to 90. It's got some, still got, if you look at the legs on there, it's still got some great legs for it.

The oak influences on it. I mean, you can definitely tell now if I remember correctly on the well or 12 and I haven't had that. in a minute or two, but that's the master of oak there. But this one's got a little bit of oak on it.

Now, when you line these four bottles up as we got them today, this is a little bit lighter to be expected, right? In color. And I think as we go up and proof here, it just probably can get better and better and better. Now this bottle has been open for I'd say about four months, maybe. Yeah. I haven't been drinking on it a whole lot lately. Well, you've been having to taste a lot of other bottles. I have been tasting a lot of other bottles and I've been trying to polish off a wilderness trail bottle up there. I've been a champion of that, that bourbon and it's a weeded bourbon. They're sweet mash and I've been drinking away.

There's a lot of other weeded bourbons out there. I think people should try. So actually, you know, you'll probably need to go ahead and finish that weeded bourbon because they've got a six year version coming out this year. Oh man.

You know, I'm going to be trying to snatch up the bottle as soon as it comes out, right?

Yeah. So there, I guess when we were talking to Pat and Shane over at Wilderness Trail, their goal was to try and hit that six to eight year mark on all their bourbons. And this is a big year for them.

Yeah. So does that mean when two more years, we're going to see an eight year from them?

Either that or their batches that come out will be a kind of a blend of six to eight year bourbons. I'm not sure. I'm not sure what their ultimate plan is, but that's a fine weeded bourbon. Fine weeded bourbon. Yeah.

Yeah. there's other companies out there, other distilleries that seems like everybody's trying to come out with a, a weeded mash bill. Right. And if they haven't, I think they will her rumor today that, you know, bullet might be coming out with a weeded bourbon. That was kind of surprising. Yeah.

Cause I don't think at this point it's just a rumor though.

Cause I mean, some people may know for a fact, but we don't, we've heard other rumors that other people were coming out with weeded bourbon and do we, Do we know it? Do we see it? I think they would be hard pressed not to come out with a weeded bourbon and catch that part of the market.

There's two categories that are... Well, I don't know if you'd call a weeded bourbon a category, but certainly a rye as a category. You know, and rye is, everybody started to come out with rye, right? Rye whiskey. Rye whiskey. That's right. So, I think it would be, it would behove somebody. That's out to our bourbon lens buddies there. It would behoove them. to have a wee bit of whiskey as well because it's gaining in popularity, no doubt about it.

You're saying it's a little bit smoother drinking. There's great other ones out there. We just did a finished up an episode with Bluegrass Distillers and man, they had some great whiskey there, right? Yeah, they did. I was trying to think of the other mash bills that are out there, other distilleries. Larseny from Heaven Hill. They actually, this month they released their barrel strength. That's right. Larseny. And then you have Old Fitzgerald from there.

Old Fitzgerald. Some people didn't even know that's a weeded bourbon. Rebel Yale from Mexico. Yeah, we've drank plenty of that, right? The 100 proof is really something special. You know, I think it is. I think it's a good solid. I don't think it's something special. I think it's a good solid weeded bourbon.

I think a lot of people hit on that name pretty hard because of Rebel, but that's not what that brand's about. They are about their whiskey and their tenure. is an exceptional weeded bourbon. I would put that right up with any other weeded bourbon.

Well, Mike, are you calling out any notes on this stuff here? I don't know. I get a lot of crisp baked apple in it. Yeah. I mean, I get a fruit. It could be an apple. I got a little bit of a hint of cherry, but I typically get more cherry out of the 107, the Antique. Now, none of these are store picks except the foolproof, right? No, they're just only the full proofs of store pick.

I think some people, they're out there searching for it and they're shocked at those prices of what these would cost them. I probably, I don't know, I might have a couple of hundred bucks in these four bottles right here. And that's because I like the bourbon. I love weller. I love how they taste. You know, I want every expression. If I stockpiled away, I probably would. I'm not going to sell my bourbon to anybody else. It's for me. I think of the roadies, or people that like our Facebook page, or people that like our Instagram page think these two guys are stockpiling whiskey away. That's not true at all.

Well, to be fair, when I heard that the Heaven Hill six-year bottle and bomb was going to be disappearing, I put two cases in my That's not to sell. It's not to sell. That's a drink. I love that bourbon. I always have loved it. And I didn't want it to go away so fast. I wanted to ease myself out. And when the price on Henry McKenna started climbing, I grabbed a case and put it in my cellar. So I do that from time to time. When I'm scared, I'm not going to be able to get something that I really want to have on hand. But it's certainly not to sell it, not to trade it.

No, that's well or special reserve. I think I have five, six bottles stashed away and that's because that's my, that's, that's Mike Hyatt's house burger. Yeah. You know, um, that's, that's where I'm going. So what are we going to do this year, Jim? We, we got some stuff we're going to do. What are we going to do special?

Well, you mentioned that we're going to start, uh, uh, doing some reviews. So we'll do, um, reviews on our blog. We're primarily going to focus on bourbons that we have on the show. So, you know, we're hopefully going to have an opportunity to introduce some bourbons that other people haven't tried yet. We'll do a review of them. We'll have them on the show. Sometimes we'll talk to the master distillers. We'll also release some video reviews on Instagram and on YouTube. We haven't been giving YouTube a lot of love. You know, we're an audio podcast and all of our podcasts do make it to YouTube But there's no video there every now and then I think we need to make sure a little video gets to YouTube So yeah audio and video podcast reviews as well as Written reviews on the blog. I think another thing that we want to do this year is We want to get some listeners on the show

I think that'd be great.

We live on the Bourbon Trail. We're here. A good majority of our listeners are coming this way. Not every year, but from time to time to visit trail and tour some of the distilleries.

I just think it'd be great for us to meet up with someone sometime and bring them out here to the house and show them a good time, let them drink on our bourbon a little bit.

Or meet up at the silver dollar, you know, and do that. So yeah, I definitely think it's a good idea to start building that community a little bit more.

So we're putting out an article too about the bourbon trail, restaurants and bourbon bars to Something besides the distilleries that if you're out on the Bourbon Trail and you want to get a bite to eat or if you just want to have a drink, it'd be a good place to do. We're also going to have some stuff that people can buy this year, right?

That's right. So our Glencairns are in production. So we should have those here pretty soon. We're gonna be having some other things too. Possibly some challenge coins and ball caps things like that people been asking for it and You know, it's something that we kind of put off doing for a while, but I think it's probably time we do So yeah, we'll have some and you know, well with those aren't just for selling to you. They're for they're for giveaways and certainly they're for us to take to our interviews, you know and

We'll definitely be having some giveaways this year. Yeah. And watch for those on Instagram, watch for them on Facebook. I'll put those up and make sure you participate because that's the only way you're going to get a glass or a cap or a t-shirt or challenge coin. Right. Otherwise from buying it.

Yeah. So I think we got some great stuff. You know, we'd also discussed and, you know, this is not a sure thing yet, but One of the things I'd like to do is start doing some live stuff where everything we do now is pre-recorded. But I think maybe this is a year for a few live events and primarily just for our listeners, the ones that are in the bourbon roadies and those who are following us on a regular basis to have some video conferencing events where we do some whiskey tastings. kind of a gathering around the bonfire kind of thing.

Yeah, we're gonna do a whiskey tasting, a couple whiskey tastings this year, bourbon tastings with us and that'll be a class we put on, whiskey tasting class. So look for that stuff in the probably coming weeks, right, for our store. And then those whiskey tasting class will be in the next month or two.

Yeah. So 2019 was kind of the year we figured out how to do this podcast thing, you know, and figure out how to do that Instagram thing and how does all this work? You know, this is kind of the year to start exploring and build on that a little bit. So yeah, I'm excited about it. What are you pouring there, Mike?

Well, I empty my glass a little quicker most. Uh, I got the welder 12 out. Um, now it's, it's, this is something that's hard to find. Yeah, it is. It is not easy to find. I don't have a bottle. That's, that's surprising to me. Um, it, uh, It took me a while to find this bottle and a guy at work said, hey, I can get you a bottle. And I got myself a bottle. And this is actually one of the older bottles. It has the metal cap on it. Yeah. Nothing wrong with those metal caps. That bourbon is not bad or nothing. A lot of people frown on that. Now, the new bottles that have come out have the cork in them, right?

Right. So that's the Weller 12, the 107, and the full proof are corked. But the special reserve is still... From what I understand, they all are going to court.

Oh, they're all going to court. Okay. From what I understand, I could be wrong. I don't consider myself a bourbon expert. I'm just a bourbon bullshitter. So yeah, the Weller 12.

Like you said, it's all oak, isn't it? Oh, yeah. So definitely a lot more oak influence on that, especially on the nose. I mean, you can pick that up immediately after drinking that special reserve. And the fruits are a little bit darker now. I mean, it's got a little bit more cherry and plum. Dried cherry. Yeah, a little bit more towards earthy notes, but not, I mean, not mushroom earthy, but a little bit more, yeah, dried fruit.

Now, what would somebody pay for in a bar to taste this if it's on the shelf?

I guess it depends on the bar. I mean, I've seen it for 20 bucks for a pour, 15 to 20 bucks. That's a pretty good price for a pour of this, I think.

So, if you haven't had it and you go to a bar, I would suggest that you go ahead and pull out that 20 spot and get yourself a pour of this. It is a bourbon to drink meat.

Yep. I can remember it was probably, I don't know the year, 2012, maybe eight years ago. I was at the liquor store and I just went in to get probably my good old wild turkey or something, I don't know. The fellow that was working behind the counter said, have you ever had weller 12? I said, no, I don't think so. I don't remember having weller 12. He said, well, you should try a bottle of it. It's $40 or $30 or whatever it was, you know, I don't know, whatever the price was. And I bought a bottle of it and I took it home and I sipped on it for a little bit. And I thought, man, this is some fine stuff, really good. So I had a couple of friends come over and they tried it and they liked it. And I called that fellow back. I didn't ask him anymore. He said he had a case. I said, I'll take it. And I bought a case. So, and I split it with one of my friends. And we drank that over the course of the next year, you know, and never thought anything of it. Now you can't even touch it. You can't get your hands on it. I think that was back. I think it was back when it had the, didn't have like a raised, like, like letters on it or something. I can't remember.

It's still kind of right. If you feel these bottles, it's still kind of raised on there. Yeah.

I don't know. This, this is some fine bourbon. That's for sure. Yeah, when you sip on this one, it's a different world than that special reserve.

I wouldn't call it, it's not an everyday bourbon. It's something that I pull out for special occasions. It's up on my shelf. I have no doubt about that. It's something I'd love to have. I looked for a bottle and I tasted it before and I was like, wow, this is some amazing bourbon right here.

I definitely have to have a bottle of it. There's something special that happens to a bourbon in that eight to 12 year range. It's different. I mean, definitely different. I think that bourbons go through seasons in their life. We've had plenty of two-year-old bourbons, you and I. And you can taste the youth in them. You can taste that green and brittleness to them. And then that corn sweetness and that kind of disappears over the next two years. It just kind of subsides and goes away. They hit that four-year mark and they just become a different liquid. And over the course of the next four years, it just continues to grow and age and become better. And it's pretty impressive to watch a bourbon age and grow. And we're getting to see that with like the wilderness trail.

Yeah, their bourbon is just going to get, I think it'll be phenomenal here in a couple of years. Well, Jim, let's keep sipping on this. We're probably right around the break time right here. Woodrow, I think he decided he's ready for us to take a break.

He wanted to be on microphone. He's up there sniffing your mic. We don't have headphones on, we can't hear it, but I imagine it's doing it.

But I tell you what, there's not a better place to drink a glass of bourbon than sitting right here in front of this fire with this dog. That's right. I mean, it's pretty relaxing. When people hear me say that, it's not something I'm just... saying to say it's something I truly do. Two big leather chairs here with Burbin and my wife and my dog. That's a better or a good friend like Jim. Yep. I appreciate that.

All right. Well, let's sip on this Weller 12. We'll come back after the break. We'll see what the next one is. We would like to thank Tommy and Gwen Mitchell from Loghead's Home Center for supporting this episode of the Bourbon Road. Loghead's Home Center, nestled in the hills of Kentucky, is an industry leader in building hand-crafted rustic furniture. Family-owned and operated, they take pride in offering only the very best for their customers. The Logheads, and that's what they like to call themselves, are skilled woodcrafters who are passionate about creating rustic furniture for people who appreciate the beauty of natural wood. Owners Tommy and Gwen don't just sell the rustic lifestyle, they live it. And you can be sure that Loghead's furniture will always be handcrafted in Kentucky by artisans who embrace the simple way of life. Loghead's rustic furniture is made from northern white cedar, a sustainable wood that's naturally rot and termite resistant. Its beauty and quality will add warmth to your earthy lifestyle for generations to come. Be sure to check out everything they have to offer at LogHeadsHomeCenter.com. And while you're at it, give Tommy and Gwen a shout on Facebook or Instagram at LogHeadsHomeCenter.

All right, Mike, we're back. And that Weller 12 is history.

It was, I took one big swallow of it and it was gone. So we took a few minutes there. You threw a couple more logs on the fire, Woodrow's passed out on the floor here.

Yeah, he did his rounds of the house, made sure everything was good and he came back and laid back down.

So what type of dog is Woodrow? Cause they're, they're all sitting out there wondering what the heck, who's this Woodrow guy? Woodrow is a pure breed yellow lab.

Uh, he's named for the eighties, uh, mini series lonesome dove. And there's a kennel over in Richmond, Kentucky that, um, we wanted to start a dog, started dog being a dog that, um, he already knows how to sit, stay. Uh, he wasn't going to be a hunter. So we wanted a dog that we didn't have to house train or nothing. And Vivian said, Hey, let's go over and look at this dog. And I said, all right, let's, we drove over to Richmond. Richmond's about 15, 20 minutes south of Lexington. So a little over an hour from here. So we drove over there and as soon as she told me his name, I was like, I'm getting this dog.

So who played Woodrow in Lonesome Dove? It was, oh man, you had to ask me that.

Tommy Lee Jones. Tommy Lee Jones. Tommy Lee Jones. So Tommy Lee Jones played Woodrow McCall in Lonesome Dove. And Robert Duvall played Augustus McCreed in Lonesome Dove. And Robert Duvall is now Woodrow. So, so, so Woodrow here, he lives on our farm. He swims in the creek, swims in the pond. Um, he's definitely a farm dog. He rides on my tractor with me, ride on my lawnmower and stuff with me. Uh, he, he stays with me pretty much. If he could, he, I'm pretty positive he would stay with me.

I think he probably, he heard you mentioned his name as he sat up there and I laid back down again. All right. So what do we got in our glass here? We got the Weller Antique. This is a Weller 107. 107. Or what's the abbreviation for it? OWA. OWA. Yep. Old Weller Antique. Yep. Does it still say, it don't say old Weller on it anymore?

It doesn't. It just says Weller. It's got the W on there. And this was actually a cork one. This was new one. I got this from making, making a relationship with a store owner or a store manager. He texted me one day and said, I got some bottle antique for you. Do you want it? And I said, yep. So I got went in there and he had two bottles for me saved back behind. I'd say that to everybody is if you really do want the good bourbon, no matter what state you live in, build that relationship. It might take you six months. It might take you a year. It might take you longer than that.

Cause they got the bourbons in the bag to get them under the counter and they're only bringing them out for the people who

are loyal to them. Yeah. Some store owners do it differently. They do a point system or loyalty card or, um, you know, the stores I go to don't do that. Um, and I've built relationships with three or four stores and you have to, where you can go in there and they know who you are. And it is nice to have a, be on a podcast and talk about bourbon and stuff. So they know who you are. Right. Um, and I've did a couple of videos guys have seen. Somebody mentioned today on Facebook, they're like, you need to share some of that. What they call it. They call this. Well, they say whenever you get benefits from people like companies and stuff. I don't know. I don't know what you're trying to get at.

A lot of people thought this was free bourbon that we're drinking tonight.

Oh, yeah. I will tell you, none of this bourbon I'm drinking tonight, or Jim's drinking tonight, has been free or given to us.

Yeah, and I don't think it matters who you are. I think I heard old Mr. Fred Minnick say on one of his shows here recently that he spends between $10,000 and $20,000 a year on bourbon. So we might get samples from distilleries. We might get a few bottles in the mail for this, that, and the other. But for the most part, we're buying our bourbon. We're buying our bourbon.

Really good bourbon. You're going to have to... You are.

Nobody's giving us pappy.

Yeah.

That's for sure.

Now, Pappy wants to do an interview with us and bring some bourbons. I'm down for that. Are you down for that? He'll probably say, go buy a bottle when you got to give me a call. I'll come over and we'll do the interview.

All right, so 107 proof. This is about a seven-year-old bourbon. It enters the barrel at 114 and gets proofed down to 107 before it goes in the bottle. And yeah, it's one of the things that's kind of a signature. And I actually had a little bit of 107 before I came over here tonight. Did you? I pulled out my silver dollar pick 107. And how was that? It's good. A little more cherry than this one. This, the one from silver dollar is a little more like cherry Coke. No, for me.

But that, that pick is a single barrel. That's a single barrel. We'll talk about that in a minute. Single barrels. Yeah. This, uh, A little bit more alcohol in there, I guess, maybe because of the higher proof. Yeah.

Yeah. I mean, 107 Antique definitely says hello when it hits your tongue. There's no doubt about it.

Let's talk about nosing. Because I see some guys, they bury their nose in there. I don't do it that way. I don't nose a bourbon that way. And when I'm saying nosing, I'm talking about how you smell it and stuff. I see guys bury their nose in there and hold it in there. I don't know how they do it. Cause if I do that, it burns my nose.

I mean, if you, if you, if you exhale first, it might clear the glass of all that ethanol. Yeah. But, um, yeah, I don't want to stick my nose way down in there. So we're only nosing for a second or two to get just to get that good whiff of it.

Say if you can get that sensory that that smell that maybe I thought that you smell some cedar in a horse barn. Not here. Not this. Definitely doesn't have a cedar. But to bring back that memory of something you smelled. This. This I don't think this has as good legs as the special reserve in 12 year. I don't know why, but

Well, some people like the 107 better than the 12, and some like the 12 better than the 107. They're both excellent bourbons. Personally, I think I lean towards the Weller 12. I like a little bit more age on it. But I used to feel like the 107 kind of had my pick, had my vote, but I was drinking primarily single barrels of 107.

Was that because it's maybe higher proof?

Yeah, no, I think it's because when I was able to get a bottle of 107, it was usually a single barrel, a store pick. And a lot of times those are special. Sure. And just drinking just a run of the mill batch of 107, it's... Not quite up to 112, the Weller 12 standard.

Now for our bourbon curious listeners, our guys and gals are brand new to bourbon and they're just trying to figure stuff out and they're looking at me and you and saying, or listening to me and you saying, hey, tell us. So tell us what a store pick is, Jim.

Well, I mean, most of the distilleries have barrel programs and a barrel program is an opportunity for a retailer to come in bring their staff, bring maybe a few customers with them, and taste through some barrels at the distillery, narrow down their choices to a single barrel, and then have that barrel bottled and send back to the store in cases.

And that's across the United States.

Yeah. So everybody's doing it. I mean, it doesn't matter where you're from. You can do store picks. And we get a little bit. Well, I said a little bit. I'll say a lot more here in Kentucky. Well, I mean, a lot of the picks are done here in Kentucky. But there's really a couple of ways to do a barrel pick. One of the ways is, as I just mentioned, you get you and your crew and you drive down to the distillery. And you go in and they'll take you on a tour. And then when the tour is over, they'll take you to wherever they're setting up the barrels for you to taste. And you'll taste through some barrels until you make your choice. Sometimes some distilleries will let you choose from three or four barrels, some distilleries. In the case of going to Wild Turkey and picking a barrel of Russell's, you can go through eight, 10, 12 barrels. Long day. But there are Always the option though that you can have them send you samples in the mail and then you can pick your barrels back at home. So if you're from California, Oregon, and it's just not feasible for you to drive to Kentucky, you can certainly have samples sent to yourself. Or you can send a proxy to the distillery to pick for you. Now if you know somebody, so anybody out there looking to do a barrel pick.

Me and Jim would love to do that for you.

We'll be happy to proxy for you and help you pick a barrel. But the idea here is to get something that's a little off profile. So you don't want to go in to, for example, do a Weller pick, like a Weller 107 pick, a Weller foolproof pick. or a 107 pick or an antique pick, and go in and pick something that's on profile. Because if you want something that's on profile, you can go to the shelf and buy it, right? Sure. You want to pick something that's a little unusual, a little different. And the idea there is to find something that stands out that you think, particularly for a store, something you think is going to really interest your customers.

They always They always prove it down to where that's at.

Now, typically when you are doing the barrel pick, you're drinking barrel proof. But if you're smart about it, you'll use a little bit of water and try to get an idea of what that's going to taste like. But when it's bottled, is it going to be proofed down? It will be proofed down. It'll be matching the label. So if you picked a store-pick Weller Special Reserve, it's going to be

It's not going to be high proof. It's going to be at 90. It's going to be at 90.

Well, I mean, yeah, so I haven't been on a... The only pick I've been on at Weller is a foolproof pick. I've not picked an antique Weller.

And a store pick I got from Chuck's down there in Bowling Green, it's at 90 proof. And I just wanted our listeners to know that stuff. You know, I think, and you know what I mean? We talked about high proof bourbon other day and a lot of guys are drinking this high proof bourbon, like they're sucking it down. Yeah. And they say, you know what? I don't know. Somebody was asking about that today and I said, here's my thing is I watch people drink high proof bourbon. They'll drink it. When I say high proof bourbon, it's at 128 to What, up to 140?

Yeah, and in a few instances, it's been over 140.

Yeah. But then they're putting ice in it, or putting water in it. Yeah. Or if they just proofing out a bourbon? Yeah.

Yeah, in a way. I mean, one of the things, I think a natural progression for a bourbon drinker, you start out drinking 80, 90 proofed bourbons, you get that you get that bottle and bottle at 100, the stuff is tasting good to you. As you go up in proof, you go up in richness and character and as you get to barrel proof bourbons, they seem to have so much more going on. There's a lot more going on there. If you find bourbons that aren't overpowering you with ethanol, you just get those deep rich flavors that are just like those old carters, you know, they're so rich and deep and dark. But you kind of get accustomed to that. If you drink a 90 proof bourbon, you're like, that's water. You can't appreciate the lower proof bourbons anymore. So if you live in that space, you live in that barrel proof space. That's all you drink. You can kind of burn out your palate in a way, where you don't get to enjoy the lower proof bourbons. And there's some fantastic bourbons in the 90 to 105 range, 90 to 100 range, let's just say. Not a lot of them. I'm choosing an 80 proof to be honest with you. It's a little too low for me. But there's some great bourbons and we're drinking a couple of them here. Scotch drinkers though. What's a scotch? What's a proof on a scotch? Yeah, typically 80, 90.

What about an Irish whiskey?

Yeah, same. Well, I mean you can get barrel proofs of those as well. But typically they're really low, lower proof for a bourbon rigor.

You know, we got some listeners over in Australia and they were like, wow, that's 132 proof. No, you're, you're talking 50. 50 proof more than what they're drinking. That's amazing. To me, you know, I can go, I got a range. I think, I think I got 80 to 120 is pushing it for me.

I've had some great bourbons that are over 120. I'm not going to drink that every day.

I still want to be able to appreciate that 80 proof bourbon. You know, I have a couple of those. I do have a couple on the shelf. that I'll take sips upon every once in a while. I'm not mixing those. They cost me a little bit of money, probably, or nice gift I got.

Yeah, I mean, if you think about it, you know, Basil Hayden at 80 proof, ancient age 80. When you look at the ancient age 80 and 90 proof, I prefer the 80. But those are a couple of bourbons that I think are solid at 80 proof. I don't reach for them very often because to me, I think my palate's more accustomed to ball and bond range right around 100 proof. I kind of think it's important if you're drinking high proof bourbons on a regular basis. that you spend some time in that 90 to 100 range, at least for your daily drinkers, because I truly believe you can burn your palate out and you can't appreciate the lower proof stuff anymore.

I think for me and you, it's important if we're sitting here talking to listeners and saying, It's just as important to drink a lower proof bourbon and review a lower proof bourbon as it is a high proof bourbon, especially if our listeners can't get those limited bottles and stuff. If they're in states like Virginia that's a controlled state and they're not able to get those bottles, we're pretty lucky to be here in Kentucky and be on a bourbon trail. Our listeners throughout the world might not be able to get that stuff or be able to drink that high-proof stuff. I mean, our palates are a little bit different.

Yeah. So on a daily basis, I'm not drinking high-proof stuff. I mean, I love to sip on it. I love to enjoy it. But I typically drink bourbons in the 90 to 100 range as daily drinkers. 101, actually. 90 to 101.

I love that 101. Yeah, I love that 101. So speaking of 101. Yeah. While Turkey's going to come out where they bonded Bottle and Bond this year, right?

Yeah, so they've got a Bottle and Bond coming out. I'm trying to think of what else is coming out this year. You know, we know that Elisha Craig got a ride coming out this year, right? Yeah. Benchmark from Buffalo Traces. The whole line of benchmark coming out.

Yeah. Wasn't that shocking? Yeah, I think it was a little shocking. You know, I think old Forrester stepping it up a proof in their single barrel. It'd be a nice thing. We're going to have her on a couple of weeks.

Yeah. So yeah, we've got some great shows coming up. We've got, you know, angels in West Henderson, angels in maybe we've got Jackie's icon from old Forrester coming up. We've got Peggy, no Stevens coming on here in a little while.

We're going to have a country artist on too. We're kind of pop, I wouldn't call him pop, more country, bluegrass, Brett Cobb. He's written a lot of songs for a lot of people. Yeah. We're still going to try to stick to our roots somewhat on the bourbon culture though. Yeah. So I think we'll have some fun.

It's going to be an exciting year. There's going to be a lot of great people. We've already got some people who are coming to the bourbon country who are listeners of the show that we've already kind of made an arrangement to have them on. We won't talk about who they are, but we've got some listeners that are going to come on the show. I think we're going to show them a good time here. It'll be fun. It'll be fun. We've got some episodes that we're going to do with some other, you know, we've had an episode with the bourbon lens before. I think there's some stuff in the works to get some other podcasts and collaborations, I guess. Collaborations, yeah. Collaborations with other media outlets. How's that?

The guys I really want to sit down to when we've talked about this trip is to go down to Nashville and get a couple of distilleries down there. Yeah. Try to hang out with a dad's drinking bourbon. That'd be great. Hang out with Peg Lake Parker over on his podcast. Get on his podcast and just have some fun.

I want to hit that Tennessee whiskey trail. I mean, I'm excited about that. That's coming together. It's been a couple of years now and there's a lot of great, you've been The old Dominic. Yeah. And, uh, I tell you, I'd like to get to Chattanooga, get down to Chattanooga. Yep. And, uh, get back to a Greenbrier Nelson's Greenbrier. Yeah.

I think this is going to be a great year. Um, I think having those listeners on, um, like we said, we're not going to say who they are. Um, but if you're a listener out there, it could be, you just don't know it. That's right. Um, I think it's great. So we went ahead and pour our, our final pour here. Well, we're full proof, but not my final final pork is Vivian is going to be coming home from work and the fire is rolling. So the music will probably come on.

And we'll probably drink a little bit more tonight. There you go. So this is Weller foolproof. It's 114 proof. And kind of the idea here is when they're making Weller, when they come off the still, they proof it to 114 before they put it in the barrel. And so when they call foolproof, they mean the proof at which it entered the barrel as white dog.

Now this is a store pick though. This is a store pick. There's only so many of those. How many bottles were in this one?

I don't know for sure. Around 200? Yeah, probably less because it is a higher proof, so there'll be fewer bottles. I think probably more like 160-ish, I would guess. This was a seven-year-old bourbon. I was there on the pick. We had to select from four different barrels and it was easy to throw one away. A lot of times that's true. There's usually one barrel that's easy to say, yeah, that's not the one. Then there's a couple that are kind of in the middle and there's one maybe that stands out. There's not always a consensus by the people that are tasting it and what it should be picked, but you're always kind of hoping your barrel, the one you like, is the one that gets you there. But this one had kind of a savory, salty note to it. And that's why we picked it, because of that.

I think it has a little bit of a salty caramel. Now, when I pick this bottle up from the store, which is liquor outlet there, Simpsonville, the sticker wasn't on it. Yeah. And I put the sticker, which I liked. I mean, you talked about this this this sticker and I actually put it covered up the back label completely with it. And I kind of like that.

I wish it would have been a little bit bigger, I guess. Yeah. Cover it fully. Well, the label had to be created on this and kudos go out to Jason C. at the Mash and Drum. He designed the label for this. He was on the pick as well. And he designed the label for this and he came up with the name for the bottle.

And everybody probably saw this on our Instagram and our Facebook lately. Yeah. And I put it with my shadow box, my sea chest as a photo and stuff. So you've seen this where we're drinking. It's called the Kraken. And it's not something that I didn't open. I opened it right away and wanted to try it. So, for people out there that think that we're collecting bottles or it's some pretty bourbon sitting on the shelf, definitely not at my house and I'll 100% tell you, not at Jim's house. If it's there, we can open it, we can drink it. And I believe the same way, everybody should be that. You shouldn't sit on a shelf for 50 years and just be a collector's item. But at the end of the day, you're bourboning your way. That's right. It's your bourbon road and so that's another thing I'd like to say about our social media. So we always put those hashtags and every post we do, we put your bourbon your way and we put your bourbon road. So what I'd like our listeners to do, whenever we do that, on Facebook you could do it. Or on Instagram. Instagram is harder because you can't post an extra photo. It's a hard thing. But on Facebook, Post a photo of your Bourbon Road for us. Let us know what your Bourbon Road is. Tell us your story. We want everybody to be included in our group. We had a discussion about store picks and single barrels and I have kind of I'm kind of harsh on that. You know, whenever you're doing a store pick with a single barrel, now you guys on this pick also pick a Blanton's.

Pick the Blanton's on the same day. Well, actually we did pick a Blanton's on the same day, but something went wrong and they didn't have the barrel ready for us for the pick. So they had to send the bottles out to the store and then we went back and tasted them at the store. So that happens sometimes. I mean, you know, things don't work out the way they should. The stiller does the best to make it work. Do what they can.

Yeah. So my thing is, is why would I buy a store picked single barrel? Because if a Bland's is already single barrel, right? Bland's is a single barrel already. Yep. So what makes it different? Because you're the guy trying it, right? And it's sitting right next to Let's say you pick the bottle, the barrel right next to the bottle that I got from the barrel.

Yeah. Does that make sense to you? It does. I like to think that the people at the distillery who are selecting the barrels for the barrel program, are taking a little extra care and making sure that the barrels that are presented to people when they come in are a little special, okay? They're a little off profile. They've got some notes that make them unique so that when you do have an opportunity to go pick a barrel, you get one that's not like that everyday bottle that's on the shelf. So, you know, Blanton's They're single barrels, but I would say that when they get a few that are a little... I would hope anyway, if they get a few that are a little extra special, they get put in the barrel program.

That makes sense to me. I don't know. I had a chance to buy one of the bottles over there and I said, I'll just pass it up. Maybe it was the price point on it. I'm not sure what was going through my mind that day. I just don't know if I can pull myself. If I saw a store pick Eagle Rare, I don't think I would buy it, even though technically they're not a single rare.

Some of them are pretty darn good though. I mean, but sometimes you get a bottle off the shelf that's pretty amazing too.

I mean, you drank a pretty special bottle on that episode. I thought it was pretty special.

Yeah. I mean, I've had a silver dollar pick on Eagle Rare that was just knocked my socks off. But by the same token, I've had one right off the shelf that wasn't a pick that was unique enough.

Now this, this pick right here, it does have that saltiness to it from, see, we're two old sailors here sitting drinking salty bourbon. When I posted this today, cause the nickname on this, I guess I'd call it a nickname, is the Kraken. So it's got an octopus on it. It's not rum. It's definitely not a rum.

It's not rum. Some people saw that picture. They thought it was rum, right?

It's not rum. It's definitely a bourbon. We wouldn't be sitting here drinking rum, I don't think on our podcast. We'll probably be drinking some rum though, pretty shortly here. We're going on vacation together.

We're going to Mexico.

Vivian and Mel are taking us to Mexico. Is that correct? They're taking us? Yeah, I think so.

We've got to take one bottle of bourbon with us. What's it going to be? I don't know.

That's going to be a debate. What makes it in the suitcase? Maybe our listeners will let us know what we should take to Mexico. Hey, hit us up on Facebook in the roadies. Ask to be a member of the roadies and we'll do a poll on there. Um, we'll, we'll list out, let's say we'll list out five or six bourbons, three bourbons each. Yeah. And we'll let our listeners pick our bottle of bourbon that we'll take to Mexico with us. And Scott, it can't be JTS Brown. Yeah. Scott, you can't vote. Uh, Scott is our buddy from the bourbon lens. Um, Scott, you can't. say JTS Brown. It's not going to be, we're going to pick our three bottles that we want to take. And then you'll vote. And the winner will pack that sucker up. We'll take it to Mexico and we're going to do an episode in the pool. There you go. So by the pool, we'll drink in bourbon in Mexico.

That'll be fun.

That's a, that's a pretty good episode. We'll do that early in the morning. It'll be nine o'clock, maybe 10 in the morning. Cause we won't be able to talk by two or three. So I can barely stand up at three o'clock in Mexico. Um, so I think it's a good time. This bourbon, it is, it is, This is some delicious burger. It's good.

Yeah. Yeah, it's definitely a savory kind of... Yeah, this would go good. If I had to pair this, I would pair this with... A big prime rib. That sounds pretty good.

We had some good prime rib the other night.

Yeah.

Where did we eat at the other night? The Bell House. The Bell House here in Shelbyville, Kentucky. Yep. Great place to eat some great prime rib. Every night they have prime rib? I think they do. Yeah. I actually had cod, crusted cod one there and it was, it was really, it was excellent. She ate the prime rib and I was kind of jealous of her.

It come out perfect. Now you had shrimp and grits. I had shrimp and grits. I usually get shrimp and grits when I go out. I just love it. If they got it on the menu, because I'm all about the grits. I mean, I love shrimp, don't get me wrong, but I'm all about the grits. You know, grits can be done really good, and they did it right there. Two places in our general vicinity here that do great shrimp and grits. One is the Bell House, but they're far surpassed by the Old Stone Inn. I think their shrimp and grits is just amazing.

Me and Viv, over by Westport Whiskey and Wine, if people are on the Bourbon Trail and they're like, oh, I'm going to little Kentucky and I've heard about this Westport Whiskey and Wine, it's off Westport Road there in the Westport Villages. Me and Viv, we actually went in there at night and I bought a bottle of wine in there to make some Uso Buco out of venison. So I'm buying that wine, but we're, we actually went to dinner at steak and bourbon. Haven't been there, heard of the place. Oh my gosh. What an excellent, I had the cowboy ribeye and everybody's eyes was on my steak. Now that thing was a 32 ounce cowboy ribeye, big old bone on it and stuff. I'm a big man and I had my doubts about eating that whole thing, but I got it down. And we actually, I didn't drink bourbon eat that night. They have a bourbon punch there. I had four or five of those and by the end of dinner, I was feeling pretty good.

Well, Mike, it's Weller Wednesday. We've done the walk. We've walked our way from Weller Special Reserve through Weller 12, Weller Antique 107, Now we're on the full proof. What are you choosing for the night? The night's pick here. What do you think?

To be honest with you, the smoothest drinking out of all of them, but I could sit down and I could, I could probably polish off half that bottle is that well or special reserve. Yeah. You know, I could, I love that bourbon. Um, a lot of people think I'm kidding with them. When I say they'll ask me what, you know, we get both of us get a lot of people asking us, what's your, your favorite bourbon. And every time I say, well, our special reserve.

Yeah.

But this is, this foolproof is a pretty special model.

Yeah. Because both the foolproof and the, um, Now, the full proof brings a little bit of spice in, in the form of ethanol, right? A little bit more bite from the ethanol. The Weller 12 brings it in from a little more barrel spice, right? And you like a little bit sweeter, smoother kind of softer bourbons. I like all four of them.

I think I could drink a glass of this, this full proof, and I'll be just fine. But if I'm going to sip on it all night long, I'm going to stick with that welder special reserve. All right. I think it's a beauty. What about you? For me, probably the welder 12.

I like that age on it. I like that, you know, that deeper, richer, ochre-er flavor you get from Weller 12. Now, the Weller full proof is delicious. Don't get me wrong. I mean, that is a very unique salty note on that.

And I like that a lot. I mean, I could sit down and drink that whole half of that bottle of that Weller 12, no problem too. It's still 90 proof. It's not going to be burning. It's a little older. Those are hard to compare between the two. They're both beautiful expressions. I think the foolproof and the antique are something you pull every once in a while and you visit it. What were special reserves every night tricking though?

$22 a bottle?

Yep. When you could find it. When you could find it. You know, me and you were lucky to live in Bourbon country. That's right.

All right. So Mike, to our listeners, come on Facebook to the Bourbon Road. Look at our group. We've got a special closed group called the bourbon roadies request to join three quick questions. They're simple, right? Yeah. Are you old enough to drink? Yeah. Do you know what you're getting into here?

Yeah. And we don't, we don't do politics in there. Um, we don't talk about sports. Um, you want to talk about bourbon. Nobody's going to bash you in there or anything or bash what you like to drink. Um, there's only two admin people in there and I think there will always be just two admin people as me and Jim. And if we feel like somebody's doing that, out they go.

But if you want to get involved with some of our upcoming stuff, like our giveaways, and you want to get involved with our live bourbon nights we're going to have, you need to be part of the roadies. So come in.

Be part of the roadies, yeah, definitely.

And we'll see what's going on.

Follow us on Facebook. Ask your entire friends list to follow us on Instagram and on Facebook. The more followers we have, the more listeners we have, the more likes we have on Facebook on our page, the more doors we can open up to and the better our episodes can be. We want to walk into every door that we could possibly open and get open to us. And when those doors open up to us, like I said this past week, We will sit down and make ourselves at home and we're going to ask you some questions. Absolutely.

Mike, I appreciate you hosting tonight. Yeah. It was a blast. Cheers. Woodrow, cheers Woodrow. Thank you for being such a good dog. And, uh, well, we'll see everybody down the road. See you down the bourbon road. All right. We do appreciate all of our listeners, and we'd like to thank you for taking time out of your day to hang out with us here on the Bourbon Road. We hope you enjoyed today's show, and if so, we would appreciate it if you'd subscribe and rate us a five star with a review on iTunes. Make sure you follow us on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram, at The Bourbon Road. That way you'll be kept in the loop in all the Bourbon Road happenings. You can also visit our website at thebourbonroad.com to read our blog, listen to the show, or reach out to us directly. We always welcome comments or suggestions. And if you have an idea for a particular guest or topic, be sure to let us know. And again, thanks for hanging out with us.