422. Discovering the Bardstown Bourbon Discovery Series

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

And I'm your host, Todd Ritter. We've got a great show for you today. So grab your favorite pour and join us.

Todd and I are proud to have Smokey's Lifestyle Cigars as a sponsor of this episode and as the official cigar of the Bourbon Road Podcast. Our hosts and listeners alike enjoy the ultimate experience of premium cigars. Smokey's Lifestyle Cigars are where flavor and craftsmanship meet. Find out more during the halftime break and at Smokey's Lifestyle Cigar dot com. The Surgeon General warns that cigar smoking can cause lung cancer and heart disease and is not a safe alternative to cigarettes. The Hill House Bed and Breakfast, located in Loretto, Kentucky, is ready to be your bourbon country home away from home. Located less than three miles from Maker's Mark, the Hill House is convenient to Bardstown and the rest of the Bourbon Trail. The next time you visit bourbon country, choose comfort and convenience. Choose the Hill House Bed and Breakfast. Listen in at the break for more details or visit their website at thehillhousekentucky.com. All right, listeners, well, it's Todd and I today hanging out in the Bourbon Road bar. Todd was gracious enough to drive my way this time. I've been out of town for a little bit and got to really stretch my legs in Magic Kingdom just a little bit in Florida.

And you survived. I survived.

It's really not, I should say, you shouldn't go there unless you really put some miles on your shoes.

Yeah, it's a marathon, not a race, for sure. I mean, it's an all-day event. It's tiring. Yeah.

And you're chasing your kids, right? Or in my case, grandkids. Right.

It's so much fun. It is. We went last year, and I hadn't been in some time. And it is a magical place. And we had one of those Disney moments and all that kind of thing.

Oh, that's so awesome. We really enjoyed it. I wrote most everything that I could, and it brought back a lot of memories, because I've been to Disney over three generations, one being my own as a child, then my children's as a child, and now children's children. I think it does kind of become a little more magical when you get to the grandparent stage. It's great when you're there with your own kids, but you're also mom and dad in charge, right? And you're having to keep track of everything. When you're there as grandparents and the parents are in charge, right? And you're just, you're there just to enjoy and watch their faces and see the, it's a great thing.

Yeah, it's a wonderful thing.

But we get to sit down again. We're going to drink a little more whiskey today. You've put together a show for our listeners, Todd, here today, which I think they're really going to appreciate. It's one of those distilleries that, um, that we all respect and admire, a distillery that we all feel does things right.

Yeah, and we've had a couple of their recent drops and we reviewed those. So yeah, we're both big fans of what they're doing and it's a great place to visit. It was one of those things where I looked at my collection again and said, what can I come up with this time, you know?

The creative mind. And the listeners have really liked this kind of, I won't call it a series of shows, but this spattering of shows that we've done where we're kind of walking through an expression as it changes over time, or in the case of this one, as it releases new iterations over time.

Yeah, and this is definitely one that's kind of really changed over time. Once we, once we tell you what it is, you'll understand. But like originally it was kind of like some Kentucky stuff, some Indiana stuff and blended and that kind of thing. And now they've even evolved a bit more and they're adding their own stuff to these blends and yeah.

Whether their own stuff is becoming the majority of the blends, right? Which is kind of cool. All right.

Well, Todd, I think it's time to let the cat out of the bag because I definitely want to get to that first pour. Yeah, so this is Bardstown's Discovery Series. And what we're going to do today is we're going to kind of compare Series 9, Series 10. And then the second half will jump into 11 and 12. And 12 is the newest release. It's probably been out, oh, I want to say three or four months. But I mean, I would think there's a good chance if you really want to look for these, you could probably find them somewhere. And I know there were some. And we'll explain why these got really popular. recently. But these are something you can find. Now the price, I think it ranges about $135 to $145. So a little pricey, but different age statements on these of the blends. So it kind of makes sense. And obviously when you source barrels, which is what Bardstown did with some of this stuff, that comes with a cost.

So let's try to fill in maybe some gaps in knowledge that our listeners might have with respect to the releases that come out of Bardstown. They have a Fusion series and a Discovery series.

Yes, the Fusion series has actually been discontinued. So it featured kind of their younger stuff. blended with some older stuff.

And it was just recently put to rest. Put to rest, yes. And that was where they were fusing or blending together the future and the past kind of.

Yeah. More or less. Right. The Discovery series, however, is more of an exploration. Yeah, it almost sounds like it's, you know, I'd love to ask Danny Callaway, the man behind this, if this is kind of like his playground. He, you know, takes some of these older barrels and plays around with them with some of their, you know, their stuff that they're using in these blends is like six years old, five years old. So, yeah, I'm pretty excited because One of these, actually three of these are a fresh crack and the nine's about gone. So as you can tell, I'm a big fan of that one. So this is a release that happens how often? I want to say twice a year, but I would have to like do some, I did not look up that. But I feel like there's like twice a year. Their stuff is like six years and this is 12.

So I figured it's about twice a year. So that's about right. Yeah. So we've got nine, 10, 11, and 12. And in these more recent releases, we're expecting that the contents is a little bit more, and they're very transparent on their labels. Contents is a little more of their stuff.

Yeah, it doesn't really tell you who it is per se, but if you do a little deep dive on it, it provides the match bill, the origin and the state of origin, and then the age. So if you do a little deep diving on match bills and things like that, you can kind of figure out some things. All right. Well, let's get to that first quarter. OK. So this is Discovery Series 9. Kind of the feature bourbon on this one at 35% was an eight-year Georgia bourbon, which when this first came out, everybody's like an eight-year Georgia bourbon. So like question marks were flying. You know, everyone thought ASW or, um, who's some of the others down there? Um, 13th colony, but all those are fairly, fairly new, fairly young. So, so. Come to find out, it's from a defunct distillery that I can't remember what it was called, like Southern something or the other. I don't recall. But so it went under, which you always hate to hear. But I guess Danny went and checked out these barrels, or they came through a broker and tried them and really enjoyed them. And so that's 35%. And then Smash Bill is 80% corn, 10% wheat, rye is 5%, and malted barley is 5%. Oh wow, four grade. So the second component with the most is 31% Kentucky 12 year, and that's a 75, 13, 12. Now, if you do your homework. That sounds a little bit like our friends over here in Lawrenceburg.

No, that's more beamy.

If you 75, 13, 12, 75, 13, 13, 12. Yeah. Okay. Yeah. Yeah. And then that's followed up by some 19% of some 17 year Tennessee. And if you know your Tennessee's, you'll know this one's 84, four, or excuse me, 84, eight, eight. Yeah. So that just screams. And then lastly is a 15% of some 12 year corn, a hundred percent corn whiskey from Ontario. Okay. So some Canadian corn whiskey. Yeah. So this one's a, This one was kind of a very interesting combo, but it's a big fan of everyone's.

Wow. On the nose, I'm really picking up the malted, the malt content.

A lot of caramel, like rich caramel, vanilla. Little bit of nuttiness. Yeah, it's definitely got a little bit of nuttiness to it. How much dickle was in it? 19%. I'm not getting the, and it's 17 year old, so I'm not getting that minerality that you.

It might more get it on the palate than on the nose, but I'm picking up that chalkiness though.

Oh yeah. Just a little bit. but there's like some really nice dark fruits, a little bit of chocolate on the nose. It smells really like a dark, robust bourbon.

Yeah. This, this hits, this kind of checks all the bourbon boxes. It's really nice. It's not, what's the proof on this again?

Oh, that's right. These all kind of varied. This one is one 12.5 proof.

Okay. So it's not singe worthy, but it's definitely an elevated proof. You can tell.

Yeah, a little bit of fruit.

It's, uh, it's, it's a nice, it's nice on the nose. It's kind of well-balanced, but it does check all the bourbon boxes. I'm picking up a little bit more of those, those malted barley notes on it though. Let's taste it. Cheers. Oh, that's really good.

darker berries still popping out.

Yeah, so the berry notes are strong on it. The oak notes kind of dropped off a little bit. It does still have that vanilla caramel bit to it, but the fruit's a little bit more upfront on the palate, I think. I am still getting that sort of a chalky wafer.

Are you? Yeah. Maybe that's your, your jam. You can't pick up the banana, but you can pick up the chalk.

Yeah. Chalk's the wrong word. It's a, what is that? It's like a wafer candies.

Yeah. I don't know. I kind of get that now. The more you talk about it really sits on the mid palette. Like it's just sitting there.

Yeah. I have to search for the dickle though. I really don't like the dickles. Not like hit me square between the eyes. You think it would, but, but there's some other substantial whiskeys in there.

Yeah. I think that corn whiskey gives it a little more like a sweet punch to that a hundred percent.

Well, this is definitely an exercise in craftsmanship. This has been blended. You know, you think about the components that are in this. These are not your average bedfellows, right? This is kind of an odd mix of whiskies. And it's amazing how somebody could put that together in their head. I mean, when you have hundreds of barrels to choose from, from all over the country, it must really get fun sometimes. Danny, you're having too much fun.

I wonder if he called, uh, Freddy no, and asked for some pointers. Like what'd I do with all these barrels? You know, cause Freddy's got his little playground with the little book series now.

So, yeah, I do like it. It's, it's got the, I mean, you said we had one of these had a 13% mall content in it. That's the one you thought was a beam, right?

Yeah. 12%.

12%. Yeah. But I am getting that. It's like, wow. It's really rich. It's rich. The color is great on it. Um, it has a good texture. Definitely a high quality whiskey. I love the way the fruit just carries from the nose to the palate. Yeah.

It's like a raspberry blackberry thing going on. Like dark raspberry, you know, like those really ripe raspberries.

Yeah. If it had a little bit more of a bready note to it, I would, I would say it might be a copperish, you know, but it's, it doesn't have that, you know, that, that sort of that toasted, uh, bread note.

And I think that Georgia craft, I mean, it's there, there's like that, I think that's where that intense Oak, you know, if something sat in Georgia and Oak barrels for eight years, well, you're going to get some serious car, caramel notes. I think that's where a lot of that's coming from too.

And Georgia Oaks, I mean, Oak made from Georgia trees is a little more intense. I think then it was like, you get that Georgia heartwood out of ASW. It's got, it's definitely a, a different sort of a oaky flavor. Yeah. This is a fantastic whiskey, really good. You said around $130, $135? 135, 140, yeah.

Okay. Like I said, this one has eight, 12, 17, and 12 year old whiskeys in it.

As a percentage, it probably averages where? Right around 12?

You're going to make me do some crazy math.

Yeah, but usually you can just glance at the numbers. You get kind of a gut.

Yeah, I would say like probably just shy of 12 maybe because there's a lot more Georgia is 35% of it. So yeah, but yeah, probably close to 12.

Wow. I've always enjoyed their whiskey. Even, even going back to earlier releases where, you know, um, uh, you were finding some younger whiskeys in them. I think it was fine. They were, they they're very good at what they do.

Yeah. Yeah.

Steve and, and Danny kind of together, um, yeah, they're kind of a, a perfect pairing of two guys that, yeah, the old and the new. And, you know, Steve brings that, that knowledge and that experience and that long history of being able to just, uh, you know, know exactly what to do with a barrel of whiskey. And then Danny's got this bright, you know, excited he's more of a, you know, kind of a connoisseur, a palette. He came from the food industry, if I remember correctly.

Yeah. So I think he's like, it's almost like an elevated, like try to elevate bourbon. Yeah. To, you know, if you go to their distillery, it's, it's an elevated experience. I mean, the restaurant's great and it's, I've heard a lot of folks say it's like the Napa of Kentucky, you know, like visiting a vineyard out and that's kind of what they were going for. They wanted it to be like an all day experience and it's really neat to visit.

I could spend all day in their library. Oh, that place is really cool. You know, one of the things that I really like about, uh, the menu at Burtstown bourbon company is the fact that they, they do have a wide selection of dusty whiskies that are available for people to try. And the good thing about it is, is they're, they're priced fairly reasonable. So you can go in there and you can find, now, if you're looking for a, a 30 year old weller, you're going to pay for it. Yeah. But if you're happy to have a, uh, you know, a white label, Jim beam from the seventies, or if you want to have a, um, order maker's mark or something like that, you can get, yeah, you can get a dusty poor bourbon for a reasonable price there.

Yeah. Now, I do know they have one that's like, I think it was bottled in like pre-1900s, like 1897. Now, it's got a little bit of a hefty price tag on it.

Yeah, well, they have to.

They've got to charge replacement price, right? That's right. At least. Now, I know also, I think Fred Minick was like a big help in helping them procure that collection.

Well, I hate to say it, but well, I don't hate to say it. I'm done with my sample. I didn't keep any back. We talked about this before.

I think I got a little heavy handed on my first one, but I will finish that.

Yeah.

Because yeah, I love that.

All right. Well, I'm very pleased with release number nine. Now what are we looking at?

So our next one is series 10 and it starts off with a 62% nine year Kentucky bourbon. That's 78 13 9. So the thing with this is, and the word is, this is some wild turkey juice, which is, this is not their typical distillate. But that's the word.

We have heard rumors and we won't talk about sources of rumors, but there was roughly a tankload of turkey that was being... And you wonder if it was because maybe the mash bill was... Something was a little off.

Maybe they didn't quite meet the standards.

Good whiskey, probably, but just not quite. what it needed to be.

But this is speculation on our part. But if you watch other folks on YouTube or anything like that, you'll kind of hear the same thing. So 18% is 13 year, 75% corn, 13 rye, 12 malted barley. So that could be true turkey, or that could be bean. Yeah. But I kind of think it's bean.

OK.

That's followed by 10% of the Georgia that we just had, which was 80 corn, 10 rye, five wheat, five malted barley. But it was 35% of the last four. It was kind of like that main component of that. And then an 8% six year. Kentucky, which I'm pretty sure they don't list it. I think they started listing when it was their own stuff. So corn 53, rye 26, malted barley 21. So I'm pretty sure that's Bardstown's own six-year distillate. And followed by just a trickle of some 10-year Tennessee, 2%. of that 84-88. Dickles getting the squeeze. I was going to say, they must've found some small barrel somewhere or something.

They were like, hey, we got a little bit left here. What are we going to do with this?

Pour it in here. Pour it in here. But yeah, so five different components ranging from six years to 13 years.

I can see where the head scratching would happen between the beam distillate and the turkey distillate, both being the same mash bills. You're kind of like, which one is it?

They're, they taste awful different. Oh, for sure. Yeah. But, um, yeah. And this one comes in at 114.24 proof.

So a little bit higher on the proof than the last one. Again, we're looking at about $135 bottle. This is the number 10 discovery. Okay.

So, and it's definitely different. And it smells like, do you want to say it or can I say it? Go ahead. It does smell a little bit like Turkey. It does that Rick house funk a little bit. Yep. Yep.

I better go grab a bottle of that decades over there and side by side it side by side. It was the percentage of the Turkey like 60%. Yeah.

Yeah. So this is a major component. Yeah.

Yeah. I would have to say that it is.

Or, I mean, you know, only they know, maybe they were going to go for something a little different and like, eh, let's not do that. Let's stick to what we know. I don't know. You just never know.

Wow. It does have a great nose on it though. Yes. It's got the, it does have that funk that, that sort of that aged Rick house kind of nose to it.

Yeah. Like you, you were in the Rick house and spilt your bourbon a little bit and you're like, Oh no. And you went, dropped down to your knees and smelt the Rick house floor. Yeah. A little bit of toffee orange peel.

Yep. Little all spice.

Let me get her to try this one.

I don't think the 2% dickle is going to shine through. Hate to say it. Yeah. I would, I would imagine there's no dickle in the next one.

I'm just guessing. I think that's a safe bet.

Okay.

All right. Going in. Cheers. Cheers.

Oh baby. That is delicious. It does. That is really good. This tastes like an elevated turkey. This tastes like, uh, this tastes like a really good Russell's pick. Yeah. We're just a hair more. Yeah. Look at the cherry.

Yeah.

Yeah. Wow. Number 10 discovery. Hello. Got that orange peel. Yep. Where have you been on my life?

That's really good. Yeah. Get a little, if that is being, I'm getting just a hint of that nuttiness on the tail.

I think the best of each is shining through. I hate to say it, but you know, the dickle could play in this a little bit, but it would be at such a small like part.

Yeah. And it's even younger dickle than that first one too.

So. Yeah. You almost wonder why they put just a splash in.

Yeah. Why is that? You see Danny, we'll have to ask him what's with the 2%. Yeah. What is it? Maybe it was like, you know, he was a big 2% milk guy. So back in the day. Wow. This is really good. That nose after you sip it and come back to the nose. Yeah. Okay. I get the, I get the speculation now. That's delicious.

Yeah. This is, uh, Actually, you know, it's a little elevated above like a Russell's pick because a Russell's pick, you wouldn't get all of these notes. There's a little bit more variety in this palette than you would get from a Russell's pick. Russell's are absolutely wonderful.

We have to put that to the test though. The Frankfurt Bourbon Society's barrel is about ready. I think we have 162 bottles that we got out of that. It was an off-profile Camp Nelson D and it's something, it's different.

Do you think you could sneak this in and a blind pour next to it and people would be like? I don't know. I may have to try.

I've got a single barrel Russells over there. I've got a lot of them. Yeah. I'm a big fan because it's one of those, there's usually like that typical you know, that cherry orange slice and some good baking spices. But sometimes you can find one that's a little off profile that can just blow your mind.

Now in this discovery, I mean, they're all really good. I mean, they've had 12 series of this now, 12 releases over the past six years, and they've all been really good. They've all been different, but they've all been really good. What do you think about somebody who just blindly goes in and says, I heard about these discovery bottles on the bourbon road and, and, uh, I know they liked them. Should they just blindly buy one regardless of the number?

Um, I don't know about that. I mean, I know there were a few early on in the mid. Cause I know at first they were using a lot of older MGP and you know, it's hard to go wrong with some older MGP. So, uh, but. I think you'll hear a lot of folks say number four is one of the best of all time. I have a seven that I've not opened yet, and I don't remember what the feature bourbon is on that one. You never hear anything like, it's super bad. They're never bad. They're just like, you know, there's the really, really good ones and then just solid ones. Yeah.

I mean, in other words, you can't really go wrong with one of these. They're not going to put something out that you're disappointed in. It may not match your particular profile. Yeah. This matches my profile.

This is lovely. But this is also one of those, you know, people are just kind of learning more and more about Bardstown. So it's like one of those, like you might pop in somewhere and find one of these older, older discovery somewhere.

Yeah.

Truthfully. I mean, I've there's, I know there's a store. And Frankfurt, one of those little gas stations that has like the side liquor store attached to it. And I want to say they had like batch six, maybe. Wow. Yeah.

Yeah. That's what I was thinking. You know, you get into some of these, these liquor stores out and about, and you might find any number of releases from Bardstown on their discovery series, just sitting there. You could find something all the way back to the early releases up until what's out today. That's why I asked the question. If somebody sees one on the shelf, they heard about it on the show, $135, a lot of money, do you think there's a chance that it's a bad decision?

Not a bad decision, but I would do your homework. That's one thing I like to do. Yeah. I follow a lot of YouTubers and things like that and I'll watch their reviews. I mean, I respect a lot of pallets out there and I could text friends and do those channels and be like, hey, is this a thumbs up, a thumbs down, a buy, a try? So that's the great thing.

I mean, if you do your homework, Well, number 10 is definitely on my list of keep your eye out for it. Yeah. Nine was good too.

I know. I've actually gone back to nine to know.

Oh, you are.

Yeah. That's kind of why I say, because I figure we're going to compare them again.

Well, then I need, when we take a break here and we'll do that here shortly, I want to get a little bit more nine in my glass so I can hang on to it.

Yeah. We're going to dirty more glasses, I'm afraid.

Yeah, that's okay.

It's for the greater good.

I'll take the hit. Not a problem.

Well, this is fantastic, Todd. I'm really having a good time. Yeah, I knew this would be a fun comparison because they're, they're different, but we're actually going to kind of these next two are some similarities. So I'm really intrigued to see how they differ from this one.

Cause now the other, the other two you have here will be fresh cracks, fresh cracks as well. Yes. Yeah. Okay. Well, I'm excited. Lots of fun. Well, folks, we're going to take a quick break here. Todd and I are going to go back and actually I'm going to revisit number nine during the break and make sure I have a little bit left of my glass because I'm thinking, Todd, at the end of the show, we're going to pick a winner.

Yeah.

Winner, winner, chicken dinner. It's the thing we got to do. All right. We shall do it. All right, folks, stick around. We will be right back. Few things pair better together than a fine whiskey and a premium cigar. and Smokey's Lifestyle Cigars are where flavor and craftsmanship meet. Their exclusive collection is meticulously hand-rolled from aged tobacco sourced from the Dominican Republic, reveled in the artistry that only decades of experience can bring. The owner, with over 10 years of cigar mastery, curates blends that capture the essence of family tradition and innovation. Embrace the journey and indulge in a harmonious symphony of Smokey's Lifestyle Cigars, an experience truly beyond compare. Find out more at SmokeysLifestyleCigar.com. When you're traveling the Bourbon Trail, location and comfort is everything. That's why I recommend making the Hill House Bed and Breakfast your home away from home. Located in the heart of Bourbon Country, the Hill House Bed and Breakfast is less than 5 minutes from the Maker's Mark Distillery in Loretto, Kentucky. giving you easy access to the Bardstown distilleries and all points of the Bourbon Trail. The owners, Cheryl and Jim, offer four comfortable and cozy rooms along with a gourmet hot plated breakfast every single morning. And, when you return from a long day of fun, it's time to enjoy a bit of the Bourbon Trail nightlife. Relax on the large outdoor patio complete with a blazing chiminea and solo stove, Or, curl up on the sofa and chairs, put a record on the turntable and relax with snacks and fruit in front of the gas fireplace. An evening at the Hill House is a perfect time to raise a bourbon glass full of cheer in the company of family and friends. We know you'll enjoy your stay at the Hill House Bed and Breakfast as much as we did. Find out more at thehillhousekontucky.com.

All right, Roadies, welcome back to the second half of the show. We are discovering the Discovery Series, if you will.

Wow. Discovering Discovery Series. I like that. Yeah.

I have some great ideas every once in a while. It's a matter of writing them down and remembering them.

I think a lot of our show A lot of shows we've had recently have been sort of your brainchild, which I really appreciate. I love it. I think it's great. I think it just shows this desire to compare whiskies and find those that stand out.

Yeah. I mean, you could pretty much do it. Like I said, we had a tasting, kind of a blind tasting. our bourbon society one night. And the criteria was it had to have the word old in it. And we did an old kind of thing. But that night, there were, I don't know, 16 different old bottles.

Fantastic.

And then it's kind of a fun thing if you've got some bourbon friends out there. Have them over for a tasting and do kind of a theme night. Do them blind. You can do them blind or just do them as is. And just kind of fun to pick a winner. I mean, there's no losers in this. Absolutely. There's rarely a loser when you're sipping on four different burps.

Well, in the first half, we had Discovery Series 9. Series 9. And Series 10. Yep. And you and I both have kept back just a little bit of those, because at the end of the day, as we reach the end of this podcast, we're going to sort of compare and contrast each one. We're going to decide who we think stands tall amongst the others.

Yeah. I'm very excited, because we've actually When we first started doing this, we agreed a lot. And now we've started to differentiate a little bit.

So here and there.

But it's always fun.

It is fun.

So without further ado, this is Discovery Series number 11. There are only three different bourbons in this. 73% of it is that 75, 13, 12. And that's a 13 year. So is that the, so is this Turkey or is this that might be the beam featured? Maybe again, we're, we are speculating, but when we get it to our nose, we, we may know 21% is the 10 year 78 13 nine, which If you would go back, and that's that mystery distillery, that could be that turkey too. So a little less of the turkey, maybe. We'll see. And then 6% is their own, looks like their weeded bourbon. So 6-year, 68% corn, 20% weeded, and 12% malted barley. And that's their own distillate. And this one, it's the highest proof we've had yet. This is 118.1. And no dickle. And note, yeah, the dickles gone.

It was gone. All right. Oh, I'd already noticed it. Yeah. All right.

Well, I'm reaching for it. Oh, this is going to be one like we're going to have to like, I'm glad we were saving these because this time I definitely want to like go back and like, I'd be crowned a nose king. Yeah.

OK. Well, this one definitely has a Sort of a dusty funky note to it. It seems a little lighter than the previous one though.

Yeah. Like it's there, but it's not as prominent. But we just noticed in the glasses, have we, as we have all four sitting, like these last two are darker. These are darker than the first two. A 13 year.

Yeah, this is, uh, Medium dark amber.

Yeah.

Medium dark amber.

Whereas the others were more of an amber. Yeah. Like golden amber type thing. Yeah. It's rich, sweet. Uh, I'm like, that's like vanilla, like French vanilla to me.

Like it's really vanilla, but it's like a crème brûlée. It's like, it's burnt cream. It's got like burnt cream. Really good. Really great nose on this. Yeah.

I have no complaints on either any of these noses. All three have been, been solid solidness. Let's taste it. Cheers. Cheers.

Okay. This one's more sweet, more syrupy, more thick. Definitely more beamy. Can I say beamy? It's beamy. Do you think it's beamy? It's definitely more beamy. Yeah, there's more nutty.

Oh, there's like this. Just a faint like, um, like a trickle of butterscotch is like just on the tail end, like, like full on, but like, yeah, like this caramel apple butterscotch.

Kind of the, you know, the soft caramel that's on the outside of apples, but they put the nuts on.

Yeah.

Yeah.

Like this is a candied apple almost to me. Yeah.

really good.

This is a proof, but it also, what was the proof on again? 118, but it drinks a little softer than the other two, I would say.

Yeah, it definitely has more of a nutty note to it. Um, it is, um, caramelly butterscotch. It does have a little bit of a, That's sort of an underlying licorice note to it. Okay. Like very light, like, um, good and plenty, like a good and plenty licorice kind of more candy like, but really good though. Yeah. Wow. This is, uh, this is competing for, This is in the run. Yeah. Yeah. For sure.

And this is, I mean, yeah. The texture on this is definitely a step up. Different juice going in all of them, different percentages and things like that. But like all three of these are, they stand out on their own for different things.

Yeah. I think that this one, um, caught me by surprise with the, um, the richness, the syrupy nature of it and the texture was, was heavier and thicker, but it is more beamy.

Yeah. It's going to be rough picking a winner. This one sits forever. Like it's got a great finish.

This is, uh, this is a little bit more like an aperitif, like an, like a after dinner drink. It's a little bit more, um, um, last pour of the night cognac like, I think I feel like it is. This is a little bit more. elevated, a little more cognac, armagnac-like. The wooden notes are coming out in it a little bit more. The nuttiness comes out a little bit more in it. It does have that nice sweet sort of a burnt cream flavor to it.

Yeah, this is the sweetest of the three so far.

You could line these babies up on your bar and have a great pour.

Yeah.

I have a great flight of pores for somebody. Yeah. No doubt about it. This is really good.

And I think blenders are kind of like finally getting a little stage presence, if you will. Yeah. Um, you know, back in the day, rectifying was a horrible word, you know, but, you know, they were using whatever was handy to try to make their juice look dark. You know, you heard tales of them using like tobacco juice and you know, what have you. So, but I mean, I can think of a lot of folks that are blending some outstanding products. I think of like the Pursuit United guys. Oh yeah. We had that Heim Wicked. Fantastic. Yeah. Beryl does a great job of blending.

Yeah, you think if you go back like five or six years, and how those same folks got little to no respect, right? Because if you weren't making it yourself, you were dog meat, right? And now look where we are. The respect that goes out to the blenders and those who are doing barrel finishing and those who are taking whiskey made by others and turning it into something magical. And you know, yeah, Barstown makes their own. They do a great, great job of making their own whiskey. But in these cases, they're taking other people's stuff too, and they're putting it together and they're making wonderful blends. And again, five or six years ago, that would have been like taboo. The world was changing. And you know, I think back to the 1800s when it was happening. with the rectifiers. And of course, a lot of the rectifiers were doing bad stuff. Some shady guys making a buck, but some of them were just repackaging other people's whiskey and probably doing a little bit of blending of their own. And maybe some of it was good. I don't know.

I like this. I like this one a lot.

Okay. I don't know if it's better than 10 could be. Definitely different than 10. Yes. I do know this much. I'm gonna save enough in my glass so I can go back and we can do this side by side.

You gotta put it down. You gotta put it down.

I'm gonna put it down.

The funny thing is I think I have less than you do on that one. I really enjoyed that one.

Yeah, it was really good. I've got enough of each one left over here where we can go back and give an honest side by side comparison. Yeah, I think we're gonna have to like

rather than go by rote in memory where I have to like deep dive and try these again.

I think the last show we did, I don't remember what it was. I was so enamored by one of the porters. The black opal. Oh, the black opal. Yeah. I was like, that's it, I'm done. Yeah. I was like, oh my gosh.

The unicorns. The unicorn show, yeah. I actually saw the ember on a finish recently. Did you? I think it was a Kroger. I didn't pull the trigger because I think I was basically Christmas shopping for our advent calendar that my bourbon society puts together. Kroger's a great place to go and catch some stuff on sale sometimes. You can find some $100 bottles for like $75 sometimes.

I think I was just telling you I picked up that pepper decanter for $50 on sale at Kroger's. Folks, keep your eyes open. End of aisle specials.

Yep. That might be one of my, like, surprise pours of the year. It was really good. It was really good. Yeah. All right. So we move on to 12. Let's do it. All right. So this one features four different bourbons. The start off is a 48% 14 year. 75, 13, 12. And if we keep with what we've been speculating, that could be that beam. Followed by 29%, 10-year, 78, 10, 12. Which could be that possibly off profile or off, yeah, I guess off distilled Turkey, maybe that odd ball Turkey. Yeah. And then a 15% 10 year 78 13 nine, which is a new curve ball on our. So do you happen to know that one?

Is that a Sazerac? No. No?

Well, I mean, it could be cause Sazerac is pretty shady about Earth, not shady, but they're very mom about what they do. Heaven. You think so? If you do some Mashable diving.

Yeah. I mean, it's hard after three pours already to dig too deep into my brain. Yeah.

Okay. Anybody, I was going to say, I know one girl that like, she knows the Mashables by heart. I'm like. That's impressive, but only for us whiskey nerds.

But at the end of the day, the mash bill really plays a relatively small part in the process. It really does.

And then lastly is 8% of their sixth year. And we've gone back to the 60% corn, 26% rye, 10% wheat, 4% multi-barley, so a Bardstown mix. And this one we've dropped back down 115.2, but it's got a great car. Yeah.

I'm looking at, I'm looking at that bottle next to the, uh, release 11 and I'm thinking it's a little darker than 11.

Let's see. Or I was going to say they look like sisters.

Sisters. Maybe. Yeah.

Twins.

Yeah. Maybe a little bit darker on the right, but not by much. Like a half a shade. Could be the lighting. Yeah. All right. All right. To the nose. Oh yeah. Brown sugar.

Does the Rick house nose coming in a little bit more than like, I didn't really get it on.

Definitely more than 11.

Yes. But not, I mean, 10 really featured it obviously as much as 10.

Yes.

But I think it's kind of back on this one.

Yeah. It seems less sweet on the nose.

I'm going to compare the nose real quick to 10.

Hmm. That's fine.

Oh yeah. Yeah.

Let's see. I'm going to do the same. Oh wow. 12's got a more rich nose on it.

Yeah.

Of course 10's been in the Glencairn for awhile.

Yeah.

So that, that does affect it. So let's be fair.

Yes. We probably should.

This is a neck pour we're drinking right now.

Instead of having a pregame port, we probably should have poured these out a little earlier, but yeah, go forgive us. All right.

It's got a little bit of a bite to it. I like it. Not as fruity. No, not as sweet. A little bit.

It's not, it's kind of weird. This, if we are correct and it features the beam, I'm not getting as much nuttiness as the one before.

I think we're going to be surprised when it hits the pallet. I think it's going to take us. Cheers.

Cheers.

Warm velvet, warm, silky velvet. Oh mama. Wow. A little bit of a bite to it. A little cayenne pepper in there.

Oh, I like this one.

It's really good. Buttery, silky. Smooth velvet. It's all about the texture on this one. But it doesn't have like this explosion of flavor. No, it's just subtle, smooth, silky.

Yeah. And it doesn't lean one way or the other between the two main components. Yeah.

It's almost, it's, it's almost a, um, it's, it's very unassuming, very It's, uh, under the radar. It's kind of subtle. I don't, I'm trying to use words. It's not flashy. It's not flashy. It's not punching you in the face. It's kind of sneaking around the back.

Be curious to know if they'd like cut it any of this at all, or just let it fly as it was.

This one wins the, um, The texture game for me, it's buttery, silky smooth. I'll keep using those words, but the flavors, they don't jut out. They don't like grab you by surprise in any one area. It's kind of just, um, an easy sipper, but, uh, you can tell. It's it's got a nuttiness to it, though. You're getting the night.

Yeah, I was getting more of the turkey.

I was getting that like I'm getting an orange slice with like a little like cherry. I'm getting the cherry, but I'm getting the nutty.

I mean, that's just there's zero burn.

I'm like, yeah, this is a. This is, if you're allowed to use the word smooth, you'll use it on this one. This is smooth whiskey.

It is very delicate and soft and silky and smooth and easy drinking.

I don't think you could have this one with a cigar.

No, I think a cigar would just monster it out.

It would mute this completely. Yep. I like it though.

Okay. That step seemed more like I got like the heaven hill thing, like the almond. Yeah, a little. Yeah. The shell. That's really good. I like it because like I said, I got like the turkey vibes for a minute. Now I'm getting that like heaven hill vibe now. So this is a fun, fun pour.

So Bart's house taking on you on a tour of your favorite distilleries.

I was going to say.

It's good. I like it a lot. Yeah. This one for me is like, uh, it's all about the, the buttery silky texture of it. It's, this is a texture whiskey here. Because when it comes to the flavor of it, it's wonderful. It's great. It's just not like, uh, there's no like big, huge prominent note that you can call out. Right.

This is going to be tough.

Yeah. It's going to be difficult. Are you going back and reviewing a few here? Yeah. Going back and nosing a few.

Just kind of determine what my favorite nose is of the four.

You go back to nine and a little bit more of the caramel butterscotch comes out. Yeah. Come back to 10. It's almost like the nose is, it's lighter.

It is lighter, but I'm still getting that like Rick house funk a little bit.

Yeah. Which I like 11 getting a little bit of maple on it now.

These are all great whiskeys. These are all really, really good whiskeys. Yeah.

I'm glad we did this episode.

Yeah, I think this is one of those bottles that like, you know, any of these four grab one, share with some friends and they're like, you know, especially if they don't know much about Bardstown distilling. And yeah, I mean, it's, it's a great pour.

It's going to be tough for me. I literally do not have in my brain, like the overwhelming winner.

Yeah, I don't either. Oh, I'm going to sip through one more time. Oh my goodness, Tom. What are we going to do? I don't know. We had to take a pause. All right. Here we go. Okay. When I go back to nine and sip, I'm getting that like Georgia craft. It does come off a little crafty, which I don't mind. Yeah. But it's like you said, that caramel's there, that butterscotch. Yep. So. Really nice. All right, going back to 10. And that's a fun thing. I always recommend if you do something like this, go through, write your, you know, we're not taking notes. We probably should have, but. We have such sharp minds that all our notes are up here in the brain pan, right? I literally just have no idea how good we are or what we do.

No, actually, we're just winging like the rest of you folks.

Seriously, if you do something like this, get everybody a little pad, let them write some notes down, and then go through one at a time. And then maybe go back, you know, save a little and then go backwards because you'd be amazed how the nose can change on these things. Once you've gone through them and just smelling the different bourbons, like you go to one and go back to another, and then you're like, Oh, I didn't pick up that note. You know?

So which one was the, uh, the Berry? Uh, the Berry was in that, I think that was 10, right?

It was 10. Which that's what I've got my hand again. And I'm.

Yeah, because I was like, I got it to my nose. I was like, was this the Barry one? Because I'm getting Barry.

Yeah. Barry's and like, I think that was like the. Yeah, that nuttiness is there on that.

Now I go back to 11, it's got a little bit of a bite. It's a, but 10 10 has got me on the whole, like, you know, wood shop, Rick house, old, old tool room kind of a dusty note. All right. And I agree. Nine is mr. Butterscotch. Yep. 10 is, uh, old Rick house floor. 11. 11 is a little bit more creme brulee, burnt cream.

Okay. I think I'm ready.

And 12 is silky smooth wonderland.

Okay. Yeah. All right. Yep. I'm ready. I think I am too.

OK.

I mean, Todd, are you first? Sure. OK. What is your number four? My number four. And again, these are all close. No losers here. Yep. I'm going to go with nine. Yeah.

So I'm also number nine.

Yeah. And going back to them and retrying them side by side, that craftiness kind of comes out just a little bit. It's not off-putting. I find it delicious. That's the bottle I have open. It's almost gone. I was going to say, that might be the one I'd just go ahead and finish off tonight and make room for something else.

I remember making the comment when I was drinking number nine that this one checks all the bourbon boxes, right? It's got this, it's got this, it's got this, it's got the butterscotch and vanilla and caramel and all the wonderful notes that you expect. But it doesn't climb to the level of the other three.

But hats off to Danny for grabbing these barrels. I mean, yeah, I hope he has more and I hope he lets them sit a little bit longer. I mean, yeah, these hit like 12, 13 years. I mean, it's good. Yeah, that's a good, good bottle. All right. Number three for you.

OK, number three for me. This number three for me is going to be 11. I'm going to agree with you there. Two for two. Two for two. Yeah. For number 11 was, it was, it was a wonderful pour. It was really good. I enjoyed it. Um, there was nothing off putting it all for it for me. I think it just, um, The other two, 10 and 11, and I won't talk about which one I prefer because we're going to get to that point, but it didn't have that one thing that grabbed me and said this needs to be considered for the, you know, the top pick.

Yeah. It was good.

It was great.

I would agree. Like when I went back and did 10, 11, 12, like literally went back and did them again. Yeah. It just doesn't, didn't seem to have like the wow factor if you will.

Yep.

Again, great pour.

Yeah. Yeah. All four of these bottles at the price point throughout, which is it's a price. It's a, it's a pricey bottle. $130, $135. With that understanding that any one of these would be a value buy at $135, I think. Yeah. All right, so now we're on to our number two pick.

My number two is going to be number 12. Me too. Yeah. Again, great. Yeah. But there's just something about, I guess our winner, number 10, that just.

So why I love number 12, and I'll just say it again, is because it was all about the texture on that one.

Yeah. The texture was great, but like, It was just a slight edge in note flavors, I guess.

It really didn't have any one note that just jumped all over you and said, pick me. Yeah. But it was good.

It was good whiskey. No doubt about it. Number 10 was. Number 10 just shined.

All right. So that's our number one, right? Yeah. Well, Todd, we were locked in step on this one. Consensus. Yeah. Number 10. That's why we love Turkey. I know. Well, if it isn't Turkey, it has those things that make Turkey the wonderful thing that it is.

Yeah. And, uh, roadies out there, keep your eyes peeled. If you're in our bourbon roadie group, there's a good chance, uh, I may do a giveaway of some one ounce pours of all four of these. Oh, wow. I know. Fantastic. Can't beat that, folks. That's right. You can compare them yourself and see if we're right or see if we're just totally, totally wrong compared to your palate.

Well, I think, Todd, you and I do differ from time to time in these, but sometimes we align. I think in this case, the expressions were different enough. And hats off to Danny and team for making each release of the Discovery series a little bit different than the last. Yeah.

you know, have their unique qualities for sure. And I'm interested in seeing what's coming down the road too.

Lots of fun. Well, this last week I was able to go to Florida. Like I mentioned up early on in the episode, I went down and I got to spend a day on the golf course with Stanton Holder and Fausto Gomez. Now these guys are two guys that are key in the business of Smokies Lifestyle Cigars. And they sent us back this new release. Todd and I are going to try it out and see what we think. Share it with a few listeners, but there's a new cigar out there, folks. And we're certainly glad to have Smokies as a sponsor. Yeah, for sure. And you guys get out there and check them out. If you're a cigar fanatic, you like to have a good cigar from time to time, go to smokieslifestylecigar.com, check them out. Todd and I are going to check out this new release they have, this kind of a stubby barber pole, right? Yeah. Yeah, I'm looking forward to it.

And then I think you have plans to go visit the house on the hill, right? So we're going to go to the Hill House. The Hill House, right.

Yeah. And on the 6th of December, we're going to hang out down there with the folks and enjoy an overnight stay and a little bit of sipping on cocktails. It's going to be fun. We're going to have a good time. We're going to record an episode with them. Awesome, awesome. We really appreciate our new sponsors and it's great to have them on board and it's always fun. As we say, it gets us down the road. It does get us down the road. Great show time.

Yeah, it's a lot of fun. I knew it would be. You got a couple more of these. I've got more.

There's always more.

They keep making whiskey. I'll keep coming up with crazy random tastings to do.

All right, folks, well, you can find The Bourbon Road on all social media outlets. You can find us on Instagram, Twitter, Facebook, YouTube, TikTok, threads, all of those. We come out with an episode every single week on Wednesday. You'll hear us. We hope that if you're listening to us now, you'll scroll up to the top of that app you're on, hit that subscribe button. That way we get credit for it. And also you get that notification every week that The Bourbon Road has released another episode. We always have fun. We always drink whiskey. Sometimes we've got some great guests on. We just had a couple of great shows here. Prior to this one, we've had a blast drinking whiskey with new friends. We'd love to have you join us each and every week. But until the next time, we'll see you down the Bourbon Road.

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