415. Bourbon on the Banks Wrap-up Show

Welcome to a new episode of the Bourbon Road Podcast. My name is Norbert. I am your guest here for today.

Oh 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.

Hello listeners. This is your fellow roadie, Matt Simons, AKA DJ Seven Foot. And I want to invite you to the next big bourbon event in Louisville, Kentucky on October 24th. It's the inaugural United Spirits elevated bourbon fall festival. I'm going to tell you all the details at the break. Stick around.

All right, listeners, welcome back. It is the Bourbon on the Banks 2024 wrap up show. Todd, how was the big day?

tiring, fun, it's good to see old friends and make new friends. And wow, just a full day. Yeah. So many people, it's, the crowds were great. The day was great. That was, I think it had like a high of 82 degrees and it was sunny, a little warm at times, but yeah, it was perfect day for it.

Yeah. For me, I think when you have an event like that, that's outside, if the weather cooperates in a way that the skies are clear and there's a light breeze, I can deal with it being a little warm maybe, but overall great day. We got to see a lot of good friends and a lot of old friends. There's a lot of new friends. There were a lot of roadies there this time and overall a great show, but this is our wrap-up show, but we've also got a couple of guests on with us. Yes, we do. Do you want to introduce?

We have our sometimes co-host with us, Amzie Winning from the Bourbon on the Banks Board, as well as the Franklin Bourbon Society. Welcome back to the show, Emsi. Glad to be here as always. Always good to have you on the show, Emsi. Such a treat. And then we're, we're going international a little bit today. We have our friend Norbert Tebots from the Netherlands. Yeah. So we're, we're going international and we're actually, we're in his friend's basement today and what we just dubbed the Jacob's well bar, Jacob van der Orts bar.

And Jacob, I know you're not miked up today, but thank you so much for hosting the show.

All right. Just knowledge here.

Knowledge in one beard. Well, then a goatee. And, Normans, it's always great to have a new friend on the show. You and I have not had the opportunity to actually sit down and just spend time together having a drink, but we'll do that here today.

Oh, that's what we're doing here today. And thanks for having me, by the way. Absolutely.

Yeah. All right. Well, I think we should get to that first whiskey. As always. As always. And then we'll talk a little bit more about our guests and the event.

All right. So our first pour, because of our international edition here, and I know once you get to talk to Norbert, you'll figure out why I kind of brought this Dusty. So this is McKing, Kentucky straight bourbon. This is a eight-year, and this was a export only. So he even told me this as a fact was for the German market. And I would say it's Louisville. It says McHenry Distilling Company. But back in those days, there were hundreds of distilling companies, but there were only so many distilleries. So I'm pretty sure this was probably a national distiller product. It would be my wager.

You could look it up. Those names, sometimes they're in registers to be found here in America. It can be a DBA, doing business as it will be. And sometimes if you cannot find them in registers here in America, try to have a look in a register in Germany, for example. Yeah, yeah.

So this is from the 70s. No exact date. I couldn't really dig that up. But yeah, so we're going to go a little dusty this morning to kick off the show. All right. Well, cheers, y'all. Cheers, y'all.

It does have a little bit of a dusty nose to it. What was the proof on this?

This one's 86 proof. Most of those exports tend to run 86.

It starts with 80 usually, but the higher you're getting, the more expensive they will be.

So, since we said cheers, that made me think, so Norbert, is that traditionally how you would cheers in the Netherlands or is there another?

We have our word Prost, but what do you also say in Germany, for example, Prost, but we know what it means to say cheers. Definitely so.

It's a bit of a grapey nose on this. Yeah. It's very dark. I mean, I'm really, uh, really impressed with the darkness of this. It is almost to a chocolate Brown.

The smells of these whiskeys. They really bring me back to growing up in those years in the seventies. I was born in 72, uh, the old cars, the Mercedes's with the letter seedings that that old smell old books, those smells, it's,

It's a great shout out. I never think of old books, but I get that.

You know, so frequently I'm having trouble picking out something, you know, on the nose or on the palate and someone says something, the old car, you know, that actually really got me on the, you know, triggers some memories there. And I do get that.

Well, for me, it's also, I think it's hard to pinpoint what I am smelling. So I try to do it with associations. Okay. What does it remind me of? And from there, you can kind of go to what it might be.

Yeah, it does have a nice oak influence on it. There's a butterscotch-y feel to it. I'm going to say it's not like super butterscotch-y, but I'm getting that kind of sense. All right, I'm sipping. Cheers.

What I like about this too, by the way, realize this was made in a time where no one here wanted this stuff. Right, right. We appreciate you guys buying it because my grandfather worked in the biz back in those days, so you kept him in work. So for the German market, Germany was one of those countries that kind of saved American whiskeys because there were a lot of soldiers, of course, there stationed. So a lot of the American whiskeys were exported to Germany, to Italy, to Japan, especially later on. So yeah, we kind of saved you there.

Cheers to that. As a result of that, I assume, and I think I heard you talking about that yesterday, there are a lot of dusty bottles available to be had in those countries. Still. Still. Especially Italy.

The Italians were savers. Whatever they could collect, they had the lira, which was the currency that was worth I won't use that word, it was worth nothing. So they would collect whatever they could collect, they would. So there's a lot of old bourbons to be found in Italy for reasonable prices. Well, they went up till recently, now they're going down again. So it's a very interesting country to visit and search for the old dusties.

So that's a matter of getting out into the countryside and visiting the old stores. some stores.

Italy is also a country where, especially when it comes to Scotch whiskeys, be careful because there's some forged bottles. I've heard the fakes are quite a problem now. Yeah, definitely. The old McCallans, art bags, that kind of Scotch stuff. But bottles like this, why would you go through the trouble of faking it. If it's a bottle, you can buy it for 50 bucks, 60 bucks, 70 bucks, and especially those old beams, those old decanders, you can find those for $75, something like that.

Not in the United States anymore.

I did not pay $50 for this bottle.

And I think so you are starting to see some fakes in the bourbon market for modern and the dusty bottles. Yeah.

I mean, the Blanton's, the newer stuff, of course, the Pappy's, that kind of stuff, yeah. There's reason that you can see those empty bottles being sold at auctions.

It's got a little bit of a bite on the back of the palate. It does. I mean, it's got a great mouthfeel, though. I mean, it's eight years. I mean, we've often talked about some of the older stuff didn't go in the barrel. It's such a high proof, so this is probably cut. Not a great deal, but.

I've heard of Dusty's or older bottle whiskeys like this darkening with the years. Is that something you've seen? You've got a lot of experience with these as well.

I've only been in Dusty's, I guess, maybe three or four years. It was kind of the rabbit hole I went down when I wanted to try something from O'Crow when my grandfather worked there and O'Taylor. where I jumped in, but so usually they don't last too long. I mean, I've got a couple of pre pros and forties bottles that I don't know how to keep tabs on. I'll have to keep, like take a picture once a month and see if it's darkening or something.

But this is really a dark whiskey. I mean, this has a really deep color to it.

Well, one thing I notice is, to me, the finish on the back end, this is pretty drying, you know? And so I wonder, and Todd, I can't quite see, does it actually say over eight years old? Yes, it does. And you know, back during the glut, could this actually be older or at least have some older component to it?

I mean, you had so much. OK, we have this 12-year-old, 13, 14-year-old. What are we going to do with it? We're not going to sell it, so blend it with it. Yeah. A lot of those have older components. Wow.

It's good. Yeah. Some amazing stuff available out there if you can find it.

You know, and I think, I think that's something missing maybe for modern bourbon right now, especially as you know, they're selling it as fast as they can make it essentially. And occasionally in that batch, if you had that one older barrel, it added something to that, that batch, you know, maybe a hundred barrels. But if you had one barrel that was, 10 years older than the rest, it added in this complexity, this richness that I think we're missing today.

Well, maybe that's why they try to do a lot with finishes nowadays, because this doesn't need a finish, right? This is so good on its own. If the initial product is this good, you don't need a finish.

So Norbert, you came a long way to attend Bourbon on the Banks and visit your friends here in Kentucky. Can you give us a little bit of background on kind of your whiskey journey? How you got into things? And what have you been doing lately?

How long do we have? Well, I started tasting whiskeys at the beginning of the century, around about. And I used to be a journalist. I used to be a teacher. So in a way, I combined what I used to do. Like I always say, I sell a story. I try to teach people a little bit on whiskey, on alcohol. So now it's not politics anymore. It's all whiskey. So in 2017, I started Whiskey for All, my company, without the E, the way we write it in the Netherlands. I'm doing a lot of promotion for whiskies, Scotch whiskies, Irish whiskies, whatever whiskies, through tastings, festivals, and of course, American whiskies. American whiskey wasn't that popular in the Netherlands. A lot of people ask me, so why do you work with American whiskeys? I say because other people didn't do it. And at first, I thought I didn't like it. About 15 years ago, I was like, well, that sweet corn stuff, I'm not going to like it. But as I said, I was a journalist. So I was like, OK, if you're so critical to other people, be more critical to yourself. Dive into it, explore it. And I found out there's so many wonderful whiskeys made here in this country. So in the Netherlands, usually I don't like to say myself, but other people will call me Mr. American Whiskey, Mr. Bourbon, which of course is an honor to be called like that. So I work a lot with American whiskeys. came to this country quite a lot, visited distilleries. So in 2021, shortly after COVID, I came and visited a good friend of mine who lives in Fort Worth, who recently got married, by the way, and I officiated his wedding. Very nice. Yeah. So in 2021, in November, I visited him. From there flew to Oregon, Portland, Oregon, visited Westbury Distillery, did some barrel picks, flew back to Texas for Thanksgiving. But two days before Thanksgiving, I visited a small distillery in Forney, near Dallas, for a royal tour, as I was promised by the brand ambassador, a lady. And so when we visited the distillery, she approached us and I was like, whoa, she's kind of handsome. So the tour lasted a little over four hours. It was really a royal tour. We tasted straight from the barrel, a lot of whiskeys. So I was there with a good friend of mine. The brand ambassador was there, one of the owners of the distillery. And after four and a half hours, four, four and a half hours, we were about ready to leave. And I was so in love with that lady. I was like, okay, I'm not going to shake hands, say thank you. So I did something I've never done before and will never do again. I kissed her on the mouth, said thank you, ran to the car. We drove off. I was looking behind me if there was any police following us. In fact, a lady texted one of her best friends and said, the guy from the Netherlands, he kissed me on the mouth. That's a European thing, right? But exactly four months later, March 23, we got married, that lady and I, in New Orleans. So she lives in the Netherlands right now. So I will say I abducted the most beautiful American girl.

Oh my goodness, what a great story. You must have fireworks in that kiss of yours, man.

Well, like I said, I'm not gonna do it again, so you'll never find out.

I'm just saying, there could have went one of two ways. You could have ended up in the back of a cruiser, or, well, buried, so good for you.

But this is a great story to tell when I do tastings. I usually end a tasting with, okay, people are here, because whiskey unites people, and this is a beautiful proof of it, but I have a better proof, I have a better story, and then I will tell that story. And especially if there's bottles that need to be sold, After that story, they're flying off the shelves. So it is a great story. Fantastic.

And for the record, Amy, he only shook our hands when we met. That's true.

You'll be giving kissing lessons, right?

So again, working with American Whiskeys, I do it a lot for importing companies in the Netherlands. We're setting up our own importing company. There's already a beautiful brand in Texas that would like to work with us. So we're trying to get some more on the list, get that beautiful stuff to the Netherlands to kind of have people Make sure that people have the experience that I had to. The people who have opinions like, oh, American whiskey is not good. Well, have a taste of this and be surprised what beautiful stuff they make over there in America.

Fantastic.

What a great story.

I know.

It sounds like a great ambassador just for, you know, American bourbon. I love it. Wow. How are you doing on your Dusty there? I'm loving it. It's good. Definitely. There's always that fingers crossed moment when you pop one open, and you always hope that it's a solid product, because I've heard horror stories that the most can get a little turn. Sometimes you can see it. Yeah, the haziness will be there. I'm always worried about really low fills, of course.

I do have to say I have some IW Harpers from the 70s. They can be a little bit hazy, but still very good. You have those hazy whiskeys that are still good. Always need to try.

So how often do you get over here to visit? Not often enough.

Well, I mean, again, my wife, I took her to the Netherlands. We live now in Utrecht. She left everything here, so her family is here. She even has two dogs. One is in Dallas, one is in Wisconsin at her mom's house. So we want to be here as often as we can. So it's about one time a year, three weeks. And hopefully, especially when doing the importing, that will be a little bit more often. Awesome.

But this country is so big.

There's so much we want to see, the states we want to visit. So I picked her up in Texas. So we want to see our friends over there. We want to go to Wisconsin for family. We want to come to Kentucky here to see our friends. And well, to do that in that short amount of time, it's a roller coaster every time again.

Holland is one third the size of Kentucky. You know, I've driven through Holland. I've been there on many occasions. I haven't been in a while, but, uh, it doesn't seem so small when you're driving across it, but because it's so crowded, 18 million people on that small piece of land. Yeah. Yeah. Fantastic. All right. Well, I think we should, uh, we should move on to the next poor. What do you think? That sounds good.

And this one Norbert brought for us to sample and he can tell us a little about this one.

It's a Rebel, a brand you all know here, made at Luxro in Barstown. But it's a Rebel 100, but it's not a regular Rebel 100. This is one from the Finnish series. This one is finished in Cabernet Sauvignon barrels. So they I think this was the fourth in a row. They had one with a portmine finish, so multiple finishes. I think it's only 6,000 bottles produced and they're not sold in America, but in some countries in Europe. When I was packing my stuff and going this way, I was like, okay, what shall we bring? A bourbon he cannot get here. And I saw this bottle. I was like, that's a good one to bring.

Yeah.

I didn't even know it existed. So this is. And again, it's a wheat bourbon. Good to mention. I use the brand a lot in the tastings because in the Netherlands price quality, I think it's spot on. Now, does it say how long it's been aged in the wine barrels or anything like that? No, no, it doesn't say. But I do feel the smell. You already smell the influence of. Yes. You get that jam, kind of that jam nose on it.

And what's this run over there, Norbert?

Price-wise?

Price-wise, this will be, I think about, in euros, I think it's about 40, so about $45. Okay. Wow. Well, fair enough. But I mean, you have to transport it to Europe first. So yeah, the prices in Europe are a little bit higher, of course, of the whiskeys, but well, if you know that otherwise you need to come to America, the price of a ticket is a little bit higher. Yeah.

Well, the finishing is definitely evident on the nose. It's got that sort of that sweet jam nose to it. And I did go ahead and take a sip and man, it's right there. Okay. Cheers. Cheers. Oh yeah. Yeah. Wow. It's really good. That's lovely. Uh, this is not, uh, this is not an easy touch. This one's been, it's impressed the cab barrel very much on the whiskey. Yeah. That's been sitting in there a while. I like that though.

more of a punch. I'm not sure. I'm not a wine. I don't know a lot about wine, but I think this was European oak, the wine barrels, I think. Okay. I get a lot more tenants. Yeah. She gives it a nice oomph on the whiskey. When on the background, it's kind of soft because of the wheat. So I like that balance. Yeah. A little bit soft, but then poof, that punch.

A little nutty. Nutty? The berries, like some bright raspberry type things with like a, like you said, there's a little darker jam note too going on. It's really nice.

Thank you for sharing. It's not a sweet pour, but it's got the essence of a fruit jam.

It could be the Cabernet Sauvignon, dry wine. I think you're not getting so much sweetness as just the fruit influence, those dark red fruits, ripe fruits. I think there is a French oak influence on that.

I definitely think you're right on that. I think it spent a little bit of time in that barrel, not just a few weeks, but probably several months to a year maybe.

Well, and then to clarify, I say French oak, but yeah, I mean, European. So French, maybe Hungarian oak or something like that. I don't know that I can discern that.

Hungarian oak kind of goes more to American white oak. It is European oak, but it's kind of in the middle between the French and the American oak. But I think for this wine, they probably used European oak as in French oak. Some more tannins. And we visited Luxro Distillery last week. It's kind of hard to figure out when was it again. This trip has been such a roller coaster. It started in Texas, then we went to Chicago, then Indiana, Kentucky. So it was last week we visited Luxro distillery had a fantastic tour it was arranged by Bart's Bottles which is the importing company in the Netherlands fantastic tour. I really think they're doing some great stuff they have their difficult difficult different brands beautiful brands and it's. It's brands that I like to work with a lot because it has a story. Uh, good whiskeys. And I will say a good story and a good whiskey.

So do you feel like after their acquisition, they've been able to really maintain their identity? I mean, they were acquired by MGP. Uh, that's been a couple of years now.

Yeah. 2021, I think it was.

So has, has, uh, Luxro and rebel as a brand been able to maintain their identity, you think through that transition? Definitely.

Um, because I don't think they have been doing a lot of different things than they were doing before. Uh, it will be, uh, cause I mean, the distillery was open in 2018. So, uh, the bigger challenge will be, uh, when they put out their own products, uh, that will be a bigger challenge, but I do feel with the way they are working that they will succeed in that too.

Yeah. Is there any kind of an age statement on the whiskey in this? Nope. Nope. It's Kentucky straight German whiskey. So we know it's at least four years old. But I get about you. Are you starting to get the grain in that too? Do you notice that?

So I wonder if it's a little bit of the go back to the nose after you've had a sip of it, you can sort of pick that up. Yeah.

It is, by the way, when you're talking about an age statement, a lot of people in the Netherlands, in Europe, will ask for, how old is it? I always say, first you tell me, do you like it or not? Because, of course, Scotland, with a completely different climate, you can age whiskey for 30 years, 40 years, 50 years, and sometimes it will get better. I have to explain to them that the climate here is completely different than here or in Texas or in Vermont, wherever you're going. So I always have to tell them, do not compare the age of a bourbon or an American whiskey to Scotch whiskey with the same age. It's different. You can have two people 18 years old with difficult kind of intelligence, experience in life, et cetera, et cetera. So that's also when people talk about we use smaller barrels because it ages faster. I always say it doesn't age faster. It ages differently, but not faster because time is the same.

It's like Texas whiskeys. They age very rapidly, but they. Through that process, they get kind of their own profile that's different from the rest of the country. It kind of, it's interesting that it's not time. It's, it's all the things. Yeah. It's all the things. It's the humidity. It's the pressure. Yeah. The, the temperature changes over a 24 hour period versus over a season. Right. Right.

Wow. You know, and that's something I love. And I think a lot of the bourbon roadies, you know, enjoy craft distilling and something I learned from Alan Bishop or something he said, um, why does, why does all bourbon have to taste the same? And that's what I love. Texas bourbon is different and sub different character. If you look at Scotch whiskies, they're very different, you know, in their flavor profiles. And, um, so yeah, I like Texas whiskey. I like. some of the whiskeys coming out of Louisiana.

Even if you don't like it, that's okay. If all whiskeys taste the same, sometimes I say if everyone had the same taste, we'd all wind up in the same bedroom. I'm so glad we don't. That's the same with the whiskeys. Be glad that there's so many different tastes. If you don't like a whisky, go for another one. If you do like it, go for another one. Let's go for the other whiskey to explore. Do explore. And what you're saying with Alan, yeah, I mean, the whiskeys he's making and not just the whiskeys, but also the other distillates. I'd rather drink a good Armagnac than a bad bourbon. I'd rather drink a good scotch than a bad Armagnac. There's good, there's bad in everything. So explore.

Well, we were able to do a little exploring yesterday, I think. Yeah, a lot of exploring. So how many distilleries were at the event yesterday, Emsi?

I don't know the total count. I think originally we had planned, I believe it was 82 or 83. I think maybe we had one distillery that didn't show up yesterday. So I believe we were still in excess of 80 distilleries yesterday.

It was really a well attended event. There was a lot of people there. And just the nature of that event is that it's like this narrow road. lined with distilleries and it's not like this vast expanse. I mean, you're literally walking up and down a single lane road in between 82 distilleries and not just distilleries, but Vendors of all types, but all bourbon related.

Yeah. So the vendors, you know, we don't want this, and no offense to anyone who likes flea markets, but we don't want it to become a flea market. And so we, the vendors have to be bourbon themed, bourbon related, and then there's no overlap. So if there is someone making bourbon scented candles, they will be the only person with bourbon scented candles. We send out surveys to attendees every year, to volunteers, to the vendors. One thing attendees have said is they wanted more merchandise, more products to buy that were bourbon-themed. That's why it's not just distilleries there. Also, we have a few breweries and wineries because maybe someone's bringing a friend who doesn't care for distilled spirits as much.

Yeah. And it's nice that they're all kind of intermingled. I mean, there's, there isn't a set section of like the merch or the, like he was saying, like bourbon furniture and candles. It's all just kind of. laid out the way our good buddy Eric Northcutt decides it needs to go, which God bless him.

I can honestly say that if there's someone who's planning an event out there, they already have an event, or maybe you've got a really big event that's kind of struggling to figure out how to get better, come watch how they do it at Urban on the Banks. I mean, they really have a formula for success there.

Yeah, I think we had 125 spaces yesterday. And I think we had two that couldn't make it for one reason or another. But yeah, we just tried to learn and improve every year how to get everyone in, how to get everyone out as efficiently as possible. Yeah.

All right, well, I think it's time for us to take a quick break. I'm out of whiskey, so that's a good point to break on anyway. Yep. When we come back, we'll talk a little bit more about our individual experiences at the event and maybe a few whiskies that we thought were standouts. That sounds like a plan. All right. Stick around, folks. We'll be right back.

Hey Roadies, it's Matt Simons. I work with Metro United Way and we have partnered with Kobe, Kentucky's original black bourbon enthusiast, to throw the area's next big bourbon event on October 24th at Progress Park in Louisville, Kentucky. If you haven't been there, it's a beautiful indoor-outdoor venue where we will have 15 brands on site including Angels Envy, Artstown Bourbon, Barrel, Brown Foreman, Bullitt, Buzzard Roost, Green River, Heaven's Door, Heaven Hill, Peerless Distilling, Maker's Mark, Michter's, Castle & Key, Smooth Ambler, and the chef Mike Crouch from Watch Hill Proper will be on site making food for everyone to eat. This will be an elevated fall festival. We will have a s'mores bar, fire pits, live music, and a silent auction and live auction that you'll be talking about for years to come. For a ticket price of only $125, you can eat and drink all night, including our complimentary open bar with Codigo tequila. Mum Napa wines and other spirits that you will enjoy. Tickets are on sale now at MetroUnitedWay.org slash United Spirits or just Google United Spirits Bourbon Festival. We hope to see you there. If for some reason you cannot be there in person, you can still bid on our silent auction online all week starting Monday, October 20th. See the website for details. This event will be one you will tell your friends about and invite them to next year.

All right. Welcome back, folks, to the second half of our great discussion with Norbert T. Bartz and Amzie Winning about the Frankfurt Bourbon Festival, Bourbon on the Banks. And we also talked about what Norbert does and why he's kind of here to experience this whole thing that's just taken over Frankfurt this weekend. So we're getting ready to dive into pour three and yeah, let's do this.

All right. So what do we have in glass number three or the first glass of the second half?

This is the whiskey thief. bottle that was chosen strictly for this event. And they sold the bottles at their tent. And I believe it's aims to correct me if I'm wrong. Part of that was going back to the Bourbon on the Banks Festival, like as a kind of a donation towards like each bottle. So was

Yeah, you know, a big thing about bourbon on the banks is that we really are a charity driven festival. We have one paid employee, everyone else there was a volunteer. And in the past, we've done some barrel picks, we would essentially purchase the whole barrel, sell it at our tent or booth. This year, I did something a little different. We had multiple barrel picks, and then the distilleries would actually sell them at their booth, and then give us a portion of those proceeds back to go towards our charities. Right.

Oddly enough, three of us that are sitting here at this table were on this pick, so you know it's got to be good.

Absolutely. Yeah. I actually like this format a lot better. I like the idea of it because then you're putting the bottles in the hands of the people who really know the product. Their representatives are talking about the product. and their brand and everything. And that's really good. And I think it takes a little bit of the burden off the team and they can focus more on the event itself.

Yeah. Well, and you know, another thing, I think the Bourbon Road, you guys have been great supporters and advocates for what we're doing at Bourbon on the Banks Festival. And so Todd and Jim, either one or both of you were at all of the the single barrel picks we had for the festival this year. And so I appreciate you taking the time away from your work, away from your families to travel and help us do those barrel picks.

We got thousands of listeners going, I'll do it.

It's not really hard to twist my arm that bad. Do you want to take off work and go sip on some bourbon today? Let me think about that for you.

Yeah, right. Not hard to answer that question, right?

You know, we could probably even get Norbert to fly over here next year and he can help us with some books. I'm sure, you know, if we were like, hey, would you like to do some picks? Give me a little bit of time to think about it. Yes. Yes. Yeah. So we planned those a little earlier next time.

So this was from Whiskey Thief and a lot of our listeners are not, maybe not familiar with Whiskey Thief, but they are a distillery just outside of Frankfurt. They're in Franklin County, right? They are. Yes. And they are an experience only distillery. So in other words, you won't find their bottles on shelves. If you want to get a bottle of Whiskey Thief, you need to go to Whiskey Thief or go to some event where they're pouring or something like that.

I do think they have one vendor. I think they're selling online a little bit. It's not a smaller one. Yeah, I think you're correct.

Mike talked about, and it wasn't one I recognized. And then actually, maybe by the time this airs. Sometime here next week or in a couple of weeks, they're having the grand opening for their new tasting room in Louisville. And it's over on Main Street. One of those goat streets, Nanny Goat Strut or Billy Goat Strut. I don't recall which one.

It's behind Heaven's Door. So if you're on Main Street, you see Heaven's Door, it's directly behind it. I mean, we went to Lowellville early this week.

So I think that's the Nanny Goat. Right. Okay. Yeah. Which I think those are two awesome street things.

Our international guy knows more about it than we do.

You know, something else. Sorry about that.

Something else, Jim, you said that Whiskey Thief was an experience only place and it is an experience. I would imagine a lot of the other listeners, the roadies have been there. If you haven't been to Whiskey Thief, go. It's a different experience than the larger distilleries, very hands on. They are literally thieving out of the barrels. They empty one of those barrels. They roll it out, roll a new barrel in. And honestly, that is like doing a barrel pick. If someone here has never done a barrel pick, you're sampling straight from the barrels. Find your favorite one, and there you can get.

Your experience there and we got to go just the other day for the kickoff party. Yeah. Thursday night. Yeah. Thursday night for bourbon on the banks. And it's one of those places that you really don't want to leave. You kind of come in and they've got a number of barrels there you could thief from to taste their whiskies. And you can of course buy their whiskies there, but. They've got a cocktail bar. They've got a band playing. They've got a fire pit out back. And in this case, they were actually burning barrels for the fire pit. Yeah.

Great food.

Yeah, they do. They do really good food. They've got these, uh, these Chesapeake beach chairs kind of laid out everywhere. And we're right in the middle of a cornfield with old tobacco barns on the hills around you. You just feel like you're secluded in Kentucky and this is exactly what it's supposed to be.

And it's maybe one mile off of Interstate 64. Right. It's very easy to get to, you know, on your way to Buffalo Trace or Four Roses or Woodford Reserve, Wild Turkey, any of those. Yeah. It's worth a stop.

It should be on your list. If you're coming to the area to tour some distilleries, I think Whiskey Thief should be one of the places you check out for sure.

And they've also been... And they've been open all 11, maybe almost 12 years now and distilling their own product. Great place.

And a great product too. Yeah. All right. So, uh, this is, uh, 134 proof proof. This is a 75 corn, 21 and nine.

Am I right? Uh, 75 corn, 20 rye, five malted barley.

Okay. So you were at 105. I was at one oh something. Yeah. Okay. My math's not working.

And I think this was a six year old, but I mean, we tried seven and eight year old product, but this one really stood out to me. Yeah. Really, really stood out.

So richness and a spiciness to their bourbons that kind of, it's really, um, and they don't do anything special there. I mean, they run a pot still, they've got their own Rick house. Yep. Uh, the barrels don't get any kind of rotation or heat treating or anything like that. They just, they're just a good old fashioned still. 53 gallons, regular size. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Normal. barrel sizes.

And normally, they are doing a single pass distillation on that hybrid pot still they have. So I think you really get a lot of flavor that comes through that way. Now, they now have their warehouse that they just built right next to the distillery building. But when they first opened, those barrels were stored in various places. They did store them in a barn at the top of the hill. They also had a few Connex containers around the property in the woods that stored them. And I don't know where this one was stored, but to get to 134 proof in six years, it was somewhere warm, I would imagine.

The thing is, don't fall in love with a mash bill out there because you could go there and then come back in three months. And while those barrels are probably gone, you're probably going to see some different mash bills. They kind of play around. They don't have like a set mash bill.

A lot of variety there. They definitely play with things. And you guys have actually done some distilling out there.

Yeah, Frankfurt Bourbon Society, for about six years now, we come up with two mash bills every year that are proprietary to us. A lot of those come from just the madness of my brain. I mean, we do some weird mash bills.

It's that Alan Bishop influence. Exactly.

Through Alan's influence, we've started using a lot of heirloom grains, playing with yeasts. And then each batch that we do, we put half in a two-char and half in a four-char barrel. Just kind of seeing how that goes. But we now have 24 barrels. We'll probably do some here before the year is over or early next year we'll have four more barrels. And our oldest will be six years old this year, but no, no rush on that when they're ready.

They're ready. Yeah. I wonder how many bourbon societies have 24 barrels in storage?

I like to think we're pretty unique. I don't know. I think so. Yeah. Yeah, I think so. Especially on the proprietary side.

And that's great. Of course, we have the company that they have so much freedom to do all the things they want. And then you can actually say, we want to have it like this, like that. And they will do it.

Yeah. And the other thing is they're still. We normally, I think, do a 1,200 gallon ferment. There still is a 600 gallon still. it actually will yield about three barrels or a little lower. So they get one barrel of everything we do. And so we're sort of paying for the experiment to help them out. And they're more than welcome to use one of these mash bills, one of these recipes if they want to. But we've played with Kentucky Rainbow corn, Amanda Palmer corn, Ohio Blue, sometimes called Blue Clare Edge.

The George Washington rye recipe, which is really enjoyable. Yeah. I like it a lot. Yeah. I think it's going to be fun in a couple more years.

Yeah, I do too.

This is a very spicy, interesting, full-bodied whiskey. It's got a lot of depth to it. It's a tremendous palate. It does have a unique profile, I think. I think they tend to get a little something out of their whiskeys there that's a little unique.

I'm a big fan of the Rise. Yeah. And I really think it's the single-pass distillation. And you know who has a still set up almost exactly like theirs is Leapers Fork. Really like their product too. And I think that still has it.

It has that same sort of a spice gumdrop kind of.

I get a lot of char too, like that char is right there. And now, I mean, it's like this almost like smokiness, slight smoky note I get.

But I'll also get some. fruit from this. I don't know that I can really put my finger on what that fruit is, but there's a fruitiness.

For me, it's kind of dark fruits and dried fruits too. Yeah.

You know, we did good guys.

I mean, this honestly, I've been telling people since right before the festival and up to it. This is one of my favorite bottles that I've had in a while. Um, I tend to like high proof stuff, but it's extremely rich, extremely flavorful. Um, I think the fact that it's only six years, there's still a, you know, the oak hasn't dried it out too much. There's a little sweetness, which helps counteract that 134 proof, um,

You were saying you like high proof. I used to like high proof. There's a lot of high proof whiskeys nowadays that I don't like that much anymore because I miss the layers. And that's what I like in this one. It is high proof. It is kind of a punch in the stomach, but it has a lot of flavors. Complexity.

So I'm not sure how many bottles they went through at the event, but I would imagine there's some more leftover that are available at the distillery.

Yeah, I think they'll have it at the distillery, either down at the distillery or the gift shop at the top of the hill there. They will have some for sale.

So if you show up at Whiskey Thief in the near future, just ask for the 2024 Bourbon on the Banks Sparrow pick at 134 proof. Yep. Yeah.

You're going to have to beat me out there because I will buy more bottles of this, probably a few more. Probably, he says. Yeah, you will. I'd say probably in case my wife's listening.

So Norbert, you got a chance to sort of walk through the event yesterday and try some different whiskeys. Were there any for you that kind of took you a bit by surprise?

Maybe not surprised. Maybe some I thought were good, hoped were good, and really were good. I have to grab my mobile phone. I took some pictures. Mainly with Jaap here, we walked through the festival, saw quite some booths, we tasted quite some stuff, and what I liked for example was the Buzzard's Roost. I remember a couple of years ago, a whiskey offer from the Netherlands sent me a sample of their products to taste it because it's not available in the Netherlands. Most of the whiskeys from yesterday are not available in our country. And I remember that I really liked their product then. And I had a taste yesterday of the collaboration bottle. And I liked that one very much too. Beryl, there was some Bottles of them that I that I liked. Let me see. Yeah, the dark arts. And we ended with it was barrel king. And that was It's always scary when you know, okay, we're going to leave the festival now. This will be the last one. It has to be a good one. That's it. So we ended with that one and I was very happy with that. I really enjoyed that one. On the other hand, I mean, again, we tasted quite a lot. And it was the first time for me visiting the festival. So it was the experience of visiting the festival. I wasn't there just for the whiskies. And to pick out good whiskies, better whiskies, best whiskies, I was there for the experience. And that was kind of the best experience. So yeah, compliments to the organizing people of the festival.

Thank you. Sadly, I didn't get to try Barrel King. I don't know that I've tried their product. every year i try to escape or hide a little more during the festival and by that i mean take off my orange vest and uh sneak around and sample some distilleries shave your beard maybe demo exactly yeah we won't recognize you i'll take the razor with me during the festival shave it off no one will know anyone see nancy yeah that's why i normally you know i try to go and look for distilleries that I haven't had their product. And now there are some that I always want to try and I go and see what they've got. But Buzzard Roost, I did stop by there. I know they have a good product and managed to get, I think, maybe one pour before I left.

Jason does a good job and he's got, I mean, he was kind of really, I don't know if he still is, really into the toasted barrel. finishing and has done some really good work. Doesn't he also have a peated product of some sort?

I think so.

At one point, yeah. I mean, they dabble in a lot of different things.

He dabbles in a lot. And he's got a local restaurant as well, which is a fantastic place to eat.

So, you know, sometimes if you ask me like my favorite whiskey, people will ask me and I'll say, that's like asking me my favorite pizza. You know, it's what I'm in the mood for. If you ask me my favorite shrimp and grits, Bourbon's Bistro. I feel like shrimp and grits is one of those dishes that always sounds great. And sometimes it lets me down. The first time I went there and had that, I raved so much about it to the waitress that she sent the chef out to the table. I tried to kiss him on the mouth, but he was too strong, overpowered me and pushed away. His restaurant seriously, if you're in Louisville, Bourbon's Bistro is a phenomenal place to eat. And they've got a good bar there, and they certainly sell by the bottle as well.

They do, they do. That's pretty good. Yeah, I've enjoyed going there. Yep, I agree with you completely on Shrimp and Grits. Sometimes they play with it a little too much. Yeah, I just like very traditional, just well-done Shrimp and Grits.

I mean, the Shrimp and Grits at Bourbon's Bistro is shrimp and grit perfection. Yeah.

I'm intrigued because I had some of the best I've ever had in um savannah recently so i'm gonna i'm gonna go see if your uh challenges yeah holds up so savannah's a big foodie town that's true i would imagine you've probably found a really good version of tripe grits there yeah

All right. Well, this is a, this is an amazing whiskey. It's really good. I, you know, I, I remember that day when we were doing the pick and, uh, we had four really good whiskeys we were choosing from and, uh, it, it came down to a rye and a bourbon. They were both really good, but in this case we needed a bourbon. So we chose the bourbon. But they do make a great ride their rise really turn the corner a little bit earlier. I think others do they they kind of hit that six year mark and they become Special special and burbany kind of candy like a little bit. I really like that a lot.

You know, if you go to my house, I have quite a few bottles from whiskey thief and This is probably my first bourbon from them. Like I have, I do love their rye. I love rye whiskey in general, but theirs is very, very good. Yeah.

So that was an invitation. If you're going to my house. Okay. Thank you.

Well, Todd, what about you? What was one of your, because you did get out a couple of times to visit around and you bought a few bottles yesterday.

Yeah, you know, it being my hometown, it's hard not to run into people, you know, and of course, you know, there's so many Bourbon Society members that are volunteers. So, you know, anytime I go out, I get kind of stuck talking to folks and things like that. But I did manage to get down to the castle and key. their tent and tried their new seven-year castor-inth weed. And, you know, they've always put out some, you know, reasonable products, nothing that's just been a wow product. I mean, I've had some of their single barrels that have been fantastic. So this is literally just dropped, I think maybe like the week before the event and I tried it and yeah, it's something special. I think it's like 105 proof. It's, you know, They have that classic bottle shape that's really cool. And the paperweight cork that you can use or throw at somebody and knock them out. But yeah, it was really with. Yeah, yeah. Take the cork off and you got a little gold hockey puck. But yeah, Val was down there and let me jump in that line early. And yeah, really impressive. So I recommend the Roadies. Maybe check that out. And then, you know, Most of the time, I kind of hung out at our bar. We had a lot of great stuff on our Bourbon Road bar, of course. But one other thing I slipped off for was the Dearborn Pirates from my good friend, Bill Straub, who's also semi-related to, as he's married to my cousin. So that's a new Fourgate bottle that'll be probably dropping in the next few months. Fantastic.

AMSE, I'm going to pin you down a little bit here. I know you got out and you got to see a lot of stuff there, but there were probably a few that really kind of got your attention.

Well, sadly, I didn't stop very early on and try the, uh, the weeded bourbon from Castle & Key. So that was, uh, gone by the time I got there. But as I mentioned, uh, buzzard roost, um, I'm trying to think what is the name of it. Good Times Bourbon. They have another thing. Is it Old Rick House or something like that? Is the other brand they do now? And they had a- That was Bridal and Bit. Maybe it is the Brightland Bay, you might be right. But I think they may have one called Old Rick House. I don't know. I think it was a 15 year or 16 year light whiskey, unfinished. Wow. I know a lot of people sometimes think of the kind of wild and crazy finishes they do. But it was an unfinished and it was really good. Of course, some of the other picks we did, we're not going to sample through today. The peerless, I really did enjoy that. Their toasted, their cognac finish, those were both really good. Whiskey Thief, they also had a 10-year bottling available there that was really good. Yeah, I tried that.

I think they had that at the VIP event as well. They did.

They did.

Yeah.

Yeah. And that was great. And by the way, they donate a barrel. Whiskey Thief, they do donate a barrel pick. where we get all of the proceeds for that at the auction Friday. And I think that brought around $8,000 maybe. Fantastic. Yeah. So really happy they could do that. But yeah, other than that, unfortunately, I'm going to try too many. Limestone Farms, they're a newer distillery being built currently, and they're very open. They're sourcing. Todd's been down there. You know, they will tell you who they're sourcing from and the blends and everything. I think in the V, well, it wasn't the VIP, what do you call it? Special access tent. They had one of their newer kind of premium bottles in there that was really, really good. And they actually have a newer, more affordable product now. I think it was called Bloodlines. Bloodlines. Really cool label on it too. Yeah, and the small batch of that was really good. Yeah, I like that. But unfortunately, other than that, I didn't get to try too many.

Well, I got most of my tastings out of the way at the VIP event. I think once we got to the event itself, and I just stayed at the tent all day, between Todd and I, we were able to put about 60 bottles out on the Bourbon Roadie Bar this year. And we did something a little bit different this year. We chose to qualify which bottles went on our table. So those would have been bottles that had to meet two criteria. They had to either, the distillery or the bottle had to have been on the show at some point. And two, they had to be attending Bourbon on the Banks event this year. So we limited our pours on the Bourbon Roadie Bar to those distilleries who were in attendance.

Yeah, I thought we did well because we had a lot of unique stuff. I've got a lot of single barrel things that, you know, those are.

There were some LTOs in there and different bottles that people just couldn't. We did have a Dusty out this year. We promised. We promised online so we had to deliver. And that was a great, I thought it really turned out well. We had enough things to offer on the roadie bar this year where everybody got a little bit of a taste of what the show is about, you know. And that bottle of 70s Jim Beam disappeared pretty quick. That was a highlight. People were fascinated by that.

What's the white label?

Yeah, it was an old four-year.

Yeah, I mean, but those old beams, again, that's what, when you come to Europe, you talk about American whiskeys, they will say, oh, beam, nah, I don't like it. Four Roses don't like it. The bigger brands, they think they don't like it. Especially when I pour them old beams from the 70s, even the white label there, the mouth drops and they're like, wow, what is this?

It's a beam. Well, thank goodness it was a court. We needed every drop. But one of the real interesting things about that was that bottle was acquired at Habitat for Humanity event where they were raising funds to build houses for people in need. That bottle was available for bidding and I had bid on it. It was actually donated by a friend of the show, Rob Carter. He's been on a number of episodes. But anyway, there was a lady there who walked up to me and asked if I had a recommendation on something. She doesn't like the hot stuff, she said. So what should I try? And I think I recommended maybe the barrel ice wane finish. And then I said, or we've got this 1970s Jim Beam here and that'll be lower proof and a little bit easier on you. And she goes, I'll try that. My grandfather used to have some of these old bottles in his basement. She drank it, she enjoyed it, and we found out in our conversation there that that was the bottle that was pulled out of her grandfather's basement. And when she realized that, you could just see the tears coming up in her eyes that she was drinking a bottle of whiskey that came from her grandfather. How Wild is that, you know? Yeah. So we, we got some pictures of her with the bottle and she was very, very excited about it. Her husband couldn't stop thanking us for giving her that experience. It was just, it was by chance, right? By chance. How often does something like that happen? But that was awful great. That is awesome.

All right. We ready to move to, I'm ready to move to Port Fort cause I love that. Let's do it. So poor four, you want to talk about AMZ? I mean, you and I were on this pick, but we can talk about the experience.

Yeah, and I don't have the proof and some of those details with me, but Dark Arts, Dark Arts Whiskey House out of Lexington. If you're not really familiar with that, it was started by McCully Minton. McCully ran the single barrel program at Wilderness Trail. Really got it up and going. He was one of the early employees down there. After the sale of the wilderness trail, he kind of decided to move on, started Dark Arts Whiskey House. Right now they're still sourcing, and they may just continue to do that from various distilleries in Indiana and Kentucky. And then, finishing in various ways. So his kind of standard lineup, he's got a French Oak finish, an Ambarana finish dry, and he's got a pretty light touch on the Ambarana, which I like, you know, let the whiskey shine through some. And then, so then his, the kind of darker blue, he calls his barely legal bourbon. It's an MGP 49% rye, 51% corn. But then with the finishes, I mean, various wine finishes, various dessert wine finishes, various brandy finishes, and then various wood finishes too. Yeah. And I think McCauley does a good job there on not overdoing finishes, which I think a lot of people do that.

The day we were there, he had literally like eight pours for us to not tell us what the finishes were or anything and just let us go at it and kind of keep chopping down until you got down to the last two. And so we literally didn't learn. It was a Tokai finish until end of the tale, so to speak.

But I will say, I immediately said, of course, because I love Tokai finished whiskey. And so, no, I think just, like I said, by far my favorite for people who were at the festival that morning when they opened the cases. So Dark Arts, doesn't have their DSP yet and the way Kentucky laws work, you need that to sample at the festival. They have to run through Capital Sellers, a local liquor store that helps us out quite a bit. That's also what all of the out-of-state distillers have to do. That morning, Capital Sellers opened those cases and the distributor had sent someone else's pick. There were very few bottles of this available. And hopefully we can make some more available, probably at Capital Sellers.

I kind of set up like an outdoor shop there at the Bourbon on the Banks. I think I talked to Luke after, I mean, he looked wore out, but he said he had a great day. So I mean, that's always awesome. It's great that they do that because like you said, it costs a lot of money for some of these places to get that DSP license to be able to sell like Whiskey Thief and things like that.

For out-of-state distilleries, it's really their only option. I think that's why a lot of other festivals you don't have out-of-state distilleries there.

Why is it that every time I have a Tokai finished whiskey, I get this really warm fuzzy feeling inside? They just do so well. They finish very well.

It's very bright. And so for those who don't know, Takai is a Hungarian dessert wine.

Which was a happy accident, right? Uh, like it's one of those things where they left them on the vines too long and then they, they, they, that didn't dry out, but became past, right?

Yeah. Yeah. Well, then they probably dried a little bit, you know, start to get to that sort of somewhat of a raisin sage, rather than getting his head cut off by the King.

He, he, he, he marketed it as this amazing thing.

There are some scotches finished on, wasn't it? Uh, Glimmer Angie did that a few years ago. The. The cake finish, tail of the cake or something like that. I think it was that one. Yeah.

Well, Glamorangi finishes a lot of their whiskeys. Yeah. I think it was that they did it with that whisky.

Yeah. The first time I ever had a Tokai finish, it was a Whistlepig Rye. And ever since then, if I see a Tokai finish anything, I'll buy it.

So Norbert, you're kind of involved with a bourbon festival over in your homeland. You want to talk about a little bit about the whiskey festival.

So not just bourbon, but WTF. No one forgets the name WTF, Whiskey Tasting Festival. I didn't come up with the name. That was the guy who started it in 2016, but he quit as an organizer two years later and together with two other people we took over. So September the 14th, we had our eighth edition. It's called WTF. It's in a wonderful location, a huge location, kind of industrial, where they would build trains. So it's huge. And we always said if you're organizing a festival what so many other people already do why do it the same we want to do it differently so we kind of want to have it really be a festival not just. all these booths. So we built our own stands, wooden stands for the exhibitors where you can walk around it. So it's squares. There's a DJ playing relaxed music. There's food trucks. So it's become quite a popular festival. It's a very modern festival, but that's the same. It's again with why do what all the other festivals already do, where all the people that go to all the festivals, we want to attract a new audience. So for an exhibitor, it's way more interesting because if you see those people you see at every festival, you know what you can pour down. they already decided what their brand is. And we want to have new people visiting our festival saying, okay, I never heard of this brand, or I have heard of this brand, but pour me something in people that are interested, that want to hear the story about the brand. And I think with the festival, we're doing quite a good job. Also, because it's not just whiskey, I mean, we started as whiskey tasting festival, but the same as what MC was saying, If you have some friends and you want to have a day with a group of friends, but some of them don't like whiskey, but they do like rum, or an army yak, or a cognac, or a cocktail, they can all come. You can come as a group of friends and enjoy all those other distillates and drinks too. You can have a good day together and that's what we're trying to do with the festival. September 14th was the 8th edition. and was sold out again we had about 1,100 people so it's busy but not crowded and it was a quite a success again in Utrecht WTF Utrecht so for everyone who's listening and who will be in the Netherlands next year in September WTF Utrecht that's where you need to go to. Do you have a date for next year? I think it's the first Saturday of September. First Saturday of September? Yes, because there's another festival, kind of a camping weekend in the Netherlands and we don't want to compete with them because there's a lot of people from the industry who will go to that festival too.

We have an Amsterdam trip planned for next September, so maybe. Just maybe.

That would be amazing.

International bourbon road trip.

Let's do this. I know some people who do a podcast in the Netherlands, so I'll arrange something for you to do. And I have some Dusty's for you to taste too.

Wow, fantastic. So Norbert, is it always the first Saturday in September?

No, usually it was the second. But again, because of that other festival, they already plan to do it the second weekend in September. We're like, OK, then we're going to do it the weekend before.

Yeah, for Bourbon on the Banks, we've tried to set a tour now. We're always the first Saturday in October, just so that that also helps with the marketing and materials, like the flags we hang up downtown. They just say first Saturday, first Saturday in October. And so it's a Kentucky thing.

First Saturday of May, first Saturday in October. Yeah. Well, it's also good to know for the people in the Netherlands who want to go there. I mean, I want to go. Yeah. Yeah. Next year again. Yeah. It's such a great day. Yeah.

I would love to attend the WTF. That would be amazing. Yeah.

OK, let's talk about this, though. Yeah, I've dug in. It's like fruity fruity pebbles. Yeah, it's just like really good.

This is an amazing.

It's a sweeter for the sweeter palette.

But I was going to say like a a light fruity honey. Yeah, kind of. I went cereal, see?

Yeah. But there's some like floral things going on, too.

But man, it's so for me, this would be a great this would be a great pairing with like nuts and dried apricots. I'm thinking about charcuterie, you know, kind of nothing too spicy though, but I think the sweetness of it would go good with that.

That fruity sweetness is also kind of dangerous for me because it's more like, where's that bottle?

I believe Tokai is a white dessert wine, correct? Again, I'm not into wines. Yeah, I think it is. I've actually purchased a bottle at home, but it's a dark bottle. You can't see through and I haven't opened it yet, but I think it is a white dessert wine. And I think, you know, you get the red ones, the ports and things like that. There's a different flavor than you get with Tokai.

I don't know if some of the wines, they usually will have a red one, but then you can also have a white one or the other way around. So I don't know how it is with Tokai. But of course, it's also the wood that has a lot of influence, the wood that has been used for the wines.

Yeah, this is a good one. Well, let's, let's just mention the other picks that we were a part of for Brevin on the Banks because I mean, if, if you're looking for some single barrels that were part of the event and you didn't make it to the event this year, but you're maybe coming a week later because a lot of people come in October, but, uh, there was a Piro's pick.

Yeah. And I mean, that was. phenomenal, you know, we just, this morning we had a couple other things we wanted to try.

I did try that one. I wasn't a part of that pick, so I did try that one. That was lovely. It had a big butterscotch nose on it.

Well, and I think a lot of theirs, they've got this thing now. And once again, up there, we tried some Seven and maybe eight year old and I think we ended up with another six year barrel there and I was talking to Ellie one of the distillers there at the Friday night VIP event and I think I told her I almost get some cola cherry cola type flavors too and she said the things they distilled that year, that summer, I think it was in August.

She said a lot of them kind of have that cola type note to it, which I- That was an interesting pick because, you know, it was one of those, and we talked a little bit about this where we drew the lines in the sand. There were three of us that picked one barrel, three of us that picked another barrel. Okay. And I think you, Amzie, you and I and McCauley were on one barrel and then the other- I think we may have been, I think it was actually,

three to four because also, uh, Walter from, uh, Walter's house from whiskey thief, uh, was there, but, but the, but the lines were drawn in the sand, but it was still a very narrow majority.

And then we went and had a little bite to eat and came back and we retasted those two blind. And then along the same lines, we flipped to opposite teams. Yeah. I was like, yeah. And I know it had something to do with the Mexican food.

Yeah. Yeah. So apparently, I mean, what a great place, uh, to work because, um, John Waitle, their, uh, their head blender, uh, and single barrel curator, um, his mom works there and she makes lunch for the employees at the distillery every day. That's amazing. Yeah. So it was Mexican day when we were there.

Got to meet her yesterday.

That was really cool. Yeah.

And I'll be honest with you, I gained a big respect for McCauley and his palate at that meeting because you could just tell, you could just watch him in a tasting and see that he's got a sensitivity and a skill that's perfect for the job he's in. I mean, he really knows his stuff. And it also, Set some reality for me. Right. So like he flipped along with us too. So it's even McCauley, who's a very accomplished taster. And I've done some picks with him in the past at wilderness trail, um, can get. You know, you eat a little something, you taste a little something, some time passes, and you can flip what tastes good to you at the moment, so.

The funny thing, I don't know how many barrels we tasted there, because. 11. Yeah, because, yeah. I counted Jim got it. So we had the ones that John had put out for us, but then he had all of the other, you know, bottles of samples that had been pulled from barrels. And McCully, from Dark Arts, started going through those sample bottles and saying, oh, I think we should add these in, and this one, and that one. We kept narrowing it down, but then trying a whole new set and narrowing it down and then had the finalists and kind of went from there.

And he was able to identify exactly what went wrong with one of the barrels that had had an issue. I should say, you said that. Yeah. Yeah.

It was a curve ball or something. Gialzman, I believe was the flaw. That's amazing. Yeah. Which, if you all don't know, jasmine is something that occurs in water supplies, especially during a drought or something. We'll get it here in Frankfurt. Yeah. It's kind of celery. The water will smell. It's kind of rusty.

Not celery. That's cellar-like smell.

And that's something they really can't filter out, or it's too much trouble to filter out through the municipal water supplies. And it will pass through distillation. Yeah.

And I think that's something to have. We've had that in some distilleries that send some samples to us. And you can pick that up. You're like, oh, yeah. OK. They probably should have made vodka out of this one.

Well, guys, it's been fantastic.

I think this has been a great show. Norbert, it's been a pleasure to have you on, as always. Thank you for having me. I hope I get to make it to your event next year. Do so.

And if I may add, just a little bit more. I mean, we've been talking about American whiskeys a lot, but in the Netherlands, there's also some distilleries. So at the festival, we had a festival bottle in this year. I think we were the first festival in Europe to do a rye as a festival bottle. which was made by Zuidam distillery in the southern parts of the Netherlands. The brand is called Millstone. I know some of their ryes are available here in the United States. So go to your liquor store, ask if it is available. If it's not available, make it available. You will taste it and you'll be like, wow, never expected in the Netherlands they can make rye like this.

So Millstone rye out of the south of the Netherlands.

Millstone rye. I think the one that you can find here in the States normally is just Millstone 100. I don't believe it's available in Kentucky, perhaps Ohio, maybe one of the closest.

Three years in a row they won best rye in the world at the awards in England. So it's fantastic rye. Try it. Thank you later. Yeah.

And, uh, and, and for this event, the WTF, the whiskey tasting festival, how can people find out more about that?

Go to the website, order tickets. Okay. Book your. plane tickets, come to the Netherlands and enjoy. And what is the website? WTF is happening dot nl. So WTF is happening dot nl. Oh, fantastic dot nl.

I love it. All right. Amzie, Todd, what do you think about this year's event? Better than ever?

Yeah, I think it was awesome. I mean, you know, like I said, it's a gorgeous day, a little hot, but if you find a shady spot, there was a breeze and yeah, just man, it's. It's a tiring day, but somehow it tends to go really fast. The slowest part is trying to load up and get out of there, but that's the price you pay for doing these kind of things, but it's a blast.

Well, I think you can get any kind of weather in early October. I'm not going to complain about yesterday. Not at all.

I would say one other thing I did forget. the one other distillery I tried, James E. Pepper of Lexington. Go there, try their stuff. Amazing. They've actually got an American single malt whiskey that's phenomenal. Rob Carter's ears just picked up. Yeah. Next time we do one of those American single malts, we have to throw in a bottle of that when we do one of those shows. I thought it was great this year. We increased the Twilight tickets, so the people that come in at 4 o'clock, because some of those 1 o'clock attendees are leaving. So we ended up with 2,300 attendees yesterday. I just got the stats this morning from Diane Strong, our event director. 23 states represented three countries and 61.3% were from outside of Kentucky.

Fantastic. That's amazing. That's great numbers. Well, don't sleep on next year's tickets. When they become available, you definitely need to be first in line to get them because what inevitably happens, and it's not just the tickets to the event, but it's the hotels, the Airbnbs, everything that goes along with it. If you wait too late in the game, you can find yourself nowhere to stay with the Twilight ticket.

You know, the big thing is that we have reached our maximum number of tickets. We want people to have a pleasant experience where they don't have to wait in line forever. Last year they sold out the day of the festival. This year we sold out in July. I'm sure it will be earlier next year.

So it's bourbononthebanks.org. Is there a sign up or something they can do to be alerted to when the tickets go on sale?

So if you have purchased tickets in the past, you will get an email probably through Eventbrite when we do that. And also just follow us on social media, Bourbon on the Banks, and we post updates. little countdown to when the tickets were going to be available.

All right. And of course, the Bourbon Road is always promoting Bourbon on the Bank. So Todd and I will be talking about it well in advance of the event and making our preparations to do the best we can to make a big show of it. That's right. It's awesome. Well guys, we've had a great time. It's been a wonderful session here in Jacob's well. I don't know if you're going to adopt that name for your bar or not, but I think it's a good one.

Yeah. Well, you know, for the, to make it even more unique, you know, it could be yops. Well, uh, yeah, something. So, so, you know, here he tends to go by, uh, Jacob. Um, but of course Norbert is calling him yop. Uh, so yeah. Yeah.

Well, it's a, it's a beautiful bar. It's got a quaint feel to it. It's kind of a wrath scalar kind of feel down here is dark wood, dark wood at the stone walls and barrels and all the good things. So we've had a great time. Thank you, Jacob, for inviting us here today. It's been an absolute pleasure. Another great episode of the Bourbon Road. Thanks to all who were in attendance and we hope to see everybody again next year at Bourbon on the Banks. Thank you. Prost. Prost. Prost. All right. Well, you can find the Bourbon Road on all social media outlets. You can find us on Instagram, Twitter, YouTube, Facebook, TikTok, threads, all the good places. We also put an episode every single week. I will either be sitting around a table drinking a lot of whiskey with some friends or will have a guest on a distillery or a hot nine review bottle will have a musician or author is always good fun we always have a great time we're always drinking whiskey we're always. Trying to let you know what our opinions are so that you can make some good choices out there we hope you listen to us every single week. Scroll up to the top of that app you're on, hit that subscribe button. That way every single week you'll get a notification that we've dropped another one. And you can go cut the grass or go for your country drive or whatever it is and just listen to the Bourbon Road. We'd love to see you every single week, but until the next time, we'll see you down the Bourbon Road.

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