440. Red Corn Roundup with Roadies

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.

Hey roadies, it's Diane Strong with Bourbon on the Banks Festival. We've got another amazing event coming your way this year. Be sure to join us at the half and I'll tell you a little bit more about the event taking place October 4th, 2025.

Todd and I are proud to have Smokies Lifestyle Cigars as the 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. Smoky's Lifestyle Cigars are where flavor and craftsmanship meet. Find out more during the halftime break and at smokyslifestylecigar.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 Laredo, Kentucky, is ready to be your bourbon country home away from home. Located less than 3 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 thehillhousekontucky.com All right, Todd, we're hanging out once again in the Bourbon Road Bar. We've got some great friends with us today. Got some great whiskey with us today. Yep. And we're going to make an episode out of it.

Yeah. You know, we often warn roadies, if they come into town, we're going to drag you into the studio and make you drink with us and make you talk about whiskey. So we've got, we don't call him an old timer to the show, but he has been on one show and it's Doug Keller is in the house and We'll let him introduce his sidekick this time.

Very good. This is my sidekick. It is Jeremy Tilley. He's my cousin. He's retired Air Force Colonel. We met in Jim Beam and been doing a little bit of the bourbon trail, staying away from soggy Frankfurt. Our hearts go out to those folks.

It was a rough time in Frankfurt, Todd.

Yeah, it's been really crazy. second worst flood we've ever had in our history. I think it was about, ended up being about a half a foot, less than, I think 1978 or something like that, which I remember that one too.

So I'm old, but- When I was driving over the bridge to Wilkinson, I was getting a little nervous. I might get trapped in Frankfurt.

Some of our good friends really affected, I know at least two Bourbon Society members, including Diane Strong, director of bourbon on the banks. So, I actually went and helped clean her house out while she was gone. They were actually in Arizona on a little trip away. So, I can't really call him her son-in-law, but her daughter's boyfriend kind of like He got a crew together and we did as best we could, but it's, I would say a good five, five and a half foot water got in that house.

Oh my goodness. That's terrible. That is so bad. Well, Jerry, it's great to have a retired full bird colonel on the show. We actually have had a colonel on before, but it's great to have you here. I'm glad you're a bourbon drinker. Yeah, I'm getting there. Thank you for your service.

And you were Air Force. Yep, Air Force. And pilot. Yep, pilot. You flew? KC-135s. Which are the? Airborne gas stations.

Gas stations, the flying tankers.

That's pretty cool stuff. Yep.

But today we're drinking bourbon and we're drinking what kind of bourbon today, Todd?

So a while back we did a blue corn theme. So I thought today let's let's do a red corn theme. So everything we have today is made with either Jimmy red corn or bloody butcher corn. So, yeah, we've got four expressions to roll through and we'll range from about 100 proof to I think 123.4. Okay.

So we're starting light and getting hotter. Now between those two corn varieties, would you say Bloody Butcher is like the more common of the two? Jimmy Ray's a little less used in bourbon.

You know, if you do like a Google search, you know, the AI assistant now that pops up when you do a Google search actually says Jimmy Red is used more often than Bloody Butcher.

Wow.

Yeah.

So we've had blinders on. I've had blinders on. They didn't realize that. Yeah.

But I mean, it's, those aren't, I mean, you know, there's not a whole lot of places still using these heirloom corns like Jimmy Red and Bloody Butcher, but there's, Seems to be like a small trend of some folks, you know, trying to look, trying to step out of the box of the regular, you know, yellow dent. So. All right.

Well, it's all red corn today and I'm pretty excited about it. So what are we starting with?

So the first one we're going to start with is actually we had their blue version and the, the blue corn version. This is the still Austin red corn bottled in bond under proof. So that's obviously four years old, obviously a hundred proof and you know, Still Austin does some great stuff, so.

They do. And I really like the Still Austin standard issue stuff. I mean, I really think it's good solid rise in bourbons.

Yes. They're just really good. Agreed. It's the un-Texan, Texan bourbon. Un-Texan, it really is. Un-Texan, Texan bourbon. But a shout out to my friend Kelsey Dime. This is kind of a hard one to get. It comes out in the summer. And he was going to have to actually send us a nice healthy pour from his bottle, so.

Okay. Let's check it out guys. Cheers.

Now, Doug, you had any red corn stuff? Prior to- I've had some bloody butcher corn a couple of times. The Jeptha?

Yeah. Jeptha, and then there's one called Wei Jennings. It is in tribute to him, Wayland's boy, that a small distillery in Ohio does. Okay. That's neat. Jeptha was far better.

Was that the, is that one of the ones we tried when I was up there? Yes. Okay. All right.

So this one uses Jimmy red. I don't know if I said that, but 36% red corn, Jimmy red corn, 34% white. So it is a blend of red and white, 25% rye. So it's a pretty nice amount of rye and then just 5% barley.

Good deal.

Got a nice nutty nose. It does.

I was going to say it's kind of a woody nutty kind of nose, but it's, um, it's, it's a little on the light side. It doesn't really like, I was expecting, cause you kind of led me to believe we might be drinking something a little bit higher on the octane scale today, but. Later. Later. Yeah, it's, it's a little bit, uh, like musty, um, uh, hardware store. Yeah. Yeah. Cheers. Cheers. Cheers. Oh, wow. That's good. Yeah. It's really good. That's got a, uh, a bit of a bite to it.

Yeah. Some strawberry thing going on a little bit. Strawberry nutty.

Yeah. Fruity for sure.

Raspberry kind of thing.

It, uh, I guess it came on a little stronger than the nose did, the flavor did. It just kind of impressed me. This is, uh, this has got to be a popular.

Yeah. Like I said, it's released in the summer. So I'd, I guess probably I'm thinking June, July, the 2025 version will come out. Um, Nancy Fraley. Is there kind of their master blender there? So I know she pops in on Jason Colori's show a lot, his live shows, and talks about what she's kind of got going on in the chat. And she said, I just recall like a couple of weeks ago, she was saying she was working on the newest version of this.

She's a true craftsperson, no doubt. Great blender, yeah. Been around a while. Been doing this for some time. Yep. Kind of lights up the side of the tongue pretty well. That's what I was thinking when I first took it. I was like, wow, that kind of took a bite. Yeah. And if we're only going up from here, what was the proof again? Just a hundred. Okay. Oh yeah.

You said that, of course. That's very good. Got some nice rich caramel thing going on too. That's a, that's a good pour. I think I might like it more than they're blue.

I'm trying to remember back. I'm trying to remember back.

Blue was good, but it didn't do well in the, you know, and we will make you guys, uh, we're going to rank these at the end. So we are picking a winner winner chicken dinner by the end, right? I mean, we're drinking four sips of bourbon, so there's never a loser, but we will. It's a really a loser with bourbon.

Old tub, but that's my personal preference. Well, spoiler alert, this one's in first place so far.

Yeah, that's right. And you may have changed my mind on Oh Crow, I mean. Hey, that was a surprise. Doug was kind enough to, he picked up a bottle of Oh Crow 86 proof. It's a new release. And yeah, I mean, my grandfather worked there and it always hurts my heart to see that on the bottom, bottom, bottom shelf.

And so this is, this is knee high now.

Maybe a little bit higher. I don't know. Maybe one row or something.

Just above it. But yeah, not bad. It sounds like it's just going to be kind of at the distillery right now. Oh, is it? It doesn't sound like they're pushing it out too far yet. And the gentleman there led me to believe that right now it's a bit undervalued on the price, but yeah, it's a solid pour and right now it's, in the $17, $18 range.

Well, you can't beat that. And that's distillery price.

Yes, that's distillery price.

Which is typically at MSRP or higher, right? Right, right. Yeah, because they don't want to compete.

But is that about $10 up above the regular old crow?

I think the old crow is about $11 a bottle. Okay, so about $5 or $6. I did buy a bottle. I think we were having a show of all the olds, remember?

Oh, that's right.

And I bought a bottle of Old Crow for that. Of course, it didn't make the show. Yeah. There's no need for that to make any show.

Sorry.

But I did get drunk. I mean, Rob Carter loves his Old Crow. Yeah, yeah. Of course, Rob would.

Well, this is good stuff. Good start. Price on this? This one goes about $79.99. Okay. All right.

So a hundred proof for no age statement on this, but.

So at least four though. It's four at least. It's a bottle and a bottle and stuff.

A hundred proof, four years old, made with heirloom corn, bloody butcher. I mean, I'm sorry, Jimmy Redd.

I don't think they have a huge footprint out there in distribution, but. I mean, I know you can find them in a lot of places, but I feel like this one might be a little harder to find than their typical stuff.

I'm going to save just a little bit of each one of our pores today so that I can go back at the end and revisit them.

What's the kernel think? What do you think? I think it's really good.

I'm new to this bourbon world.

I was going to say, you're kind of new on your journey. Yes.

And so I'm really developing the palate. But overall, it's been a great experience tasting these different bourbons and learning what makes them different.

Yeah. Yeah, there's, there's actually, it seems like it's a little overwhelming at first. Like there's all this stuff, these people are talking about all these things of mashbills and yeasts and fermentation times and this wood and that wood and this oak and this secondary finish. And it's been a bit overwhelming at first, but after a while it just sort of, you just settle into it. You just kind of.

Become an old hat at it.

Become an old hat.

Yeah. Find what you like and drink what you like. So what kind of got you started on the bourbon road? That's like, come with me.

I've been a bad influence of Jairus most of his life.

Every time we'd come home, visit Ohio for Christmas and stuff, we always make a habit to stop by to see Doug and the family and catch up and see what they've been doing. He's always been generous with his pores and having a variety of different bourbons and stuff that he's always took me aside. Hey, let's try these different things. Tell me what you like. That's really where it all started. Then him and my wife actually came up with the idea of going on this trip.

Sounds great. Is there one bourbon that you've had on multiple occasions that you kind of lean towards right now?

Not yet. No? So you're really just jumping around on everything. I am. I am bouncing from bottle to bottle just trying to see what's out there.

All right. Good deal.

There's a lot.

That's what I'm discovering.

Yeah, we were all at the Rare Eagle. 2.0. 2.0. We call it that, but he just, he seems to resist that a little bit. I think he just wants to call it the- We're going to name it. He doesn't have a choice. He doesn't have a choice. No. Rob Carter did move the Rare Eagle bar and he definitely, I think, one-upped himself just a little bit. Oh my goodness. Yes. It was amazing. And I didn't realize, I guess I probably always knew he had that many bottles, but I don't think Pam knew he had that many bottles.

I'm not sure that Pam knows how many bottles he has yet. Because he still hasn't pulled them all out, has he? Well, he has a lot of cases sitting around there that may or may not contain bottles. Like foot lockers and...

Foot lockers and... Ottomans and all kinds of places you can hide bottles. But yeah, he probably has 500 bottles, 700 bottles on display.

Something like that. I think he said it was 100 linear board feet of shelf space. They're two and three D. Yeah. So it might be more than 500.

Absolutely beautiful. It's me. Yeah. He's, yeah, he's, he's definitely done. And, and he's, I don't know, he's just got away with, um, putting together a bourbon space. He does a really good job at it. So we had, we had a good time there last night. All right, guys, we ready to move on to.

Yeah. Pour two. Pour two. All right. All right. These folks were on episode 399. This is the Judge McBrayer, W.H. McBrayer. Bill and Bill Sr. were on episode 399 that was recorded at the Corner Rick House with Jim. I opened it up because they'd come down to do a tasting. I was like, hey, two birds, one stone kind of thing. But on that show, you actually tried batch four, which came out in 2024. And this is the 2023 batch. So this would be batch three. And just to let folks know, their batch five will be coming out, I think, in about two or three weeks. To get that, you probably need to either Watch for it on salebox.com or join their legacy club, which you can join through their website. McBrayerlegacyspirits.com is what that's called.

Because they are a little bit more of kind of a... a direct consumer. Yeah, like a boutique, boutique whiskey whiskey type place. You can, you can pretty much get it. Anybody who's hearing the show can probably get it for the most part, but you're not going to find it on a liquor store shelf.

The only one I know of might be, he has a good friendship with Brad Bonds at Revival Spirits, which is the, they had the dusty pours and we've been in talks about going up there and visiting him and talking to him. And I know they, he sells some out of there. So, but yeah, it's. Kind of hard to find, but I probably should ask Bill how many places they ship to. And I think if you go back to episode 399, I'm sure they would tell.

If the McBrayer expressions interest you, I would definitely check out their website. and find out a little bit more about their, it's kind of a club. Yeah, kind of. Yeah, it's kind of a club they have and they have no problem moving their product because it's really good and they've got a good following and I think they do a really good job at it.

And they've got that history thing. I'm a sucker for a good history.

But it's one of the older names in bourbon altogether, right? Yeah.

The way they found this recipe was on a note from Judge McBrayer to E.H. Taylor. Yeah. So pretty cool story. And so speaking of that mash bill, it's 88.4%. So basically a corn whiskey at this point. Bloody butcher corn. 5.8% heritage rye. They don't say what the heritage rye type is. And then 5.8% barley. So this is bloody butcher and a lot of it.

So I'm going to expect this to be deep and I don't want to say mushroomy, but it could be kind of. All right.

Retails for about 99, 99, 103.5 proof. 103.5. Cheers. Cheers. Oh yeah. It's got a bright nose though. It does.

I'm just wondering if I could tell it was bloody butcher. If I really, if you didn't say anything ahead of time, cause I, because I know it is, I get it. Like I'm getting it.

I get the, I'm kind of interested to see if we can pick out like some subtle differences between the Jimmy red and the bloody butcher.

I just think it has that, uh, You know, have you ever, have you ever run over those puff balls, those in your, in your grass with the lawnmower? That smell you get when you do that.

You're talking about the dandelions? No, no, the puffballs. The white puffballs.

The white mushroom puffballs, like.

Oh, yes, yes. And when you hit them, that little puff of smoke comes out of them. We're talking dandelions, you know, like they just go everywhere and just make more.

I swear I've never used that note before. Okay. But it kind of reminds me of that. It's got a puffball nose.

fungier folks.

And I know people when you're, when you're tasting a whiskey from a distillery and they're sitting across from you and you tell them that you're getting mushrooms, they're not real happy about that. But for me, I don't mind it because it's a, it's a true kind of earthy note.

Yeah. It's just the way I express it. Is it really mushrooms? No. So it must go like that umami thing. Okay. If you compare the noses on these two, there is.

There's a definite difference. Yeah.

Okay.

That's really fun. When I go back to the first one, I'm almost picking up a little bit of a cedar smell to it now. Like a cigar box kind of. Yeah. Kind of a cigar box sort of smell. Yeah. Wow. Where this one smells much more organic.

This would be a better like barbecue whiskey, I think. All right. I'm ready to sip. Cheers. Cheers, all. Cheers. Quite a bit lighter. Yeah. It really took me in a different direction.

A little less sweet too. I think your earthiness is there.

Yep. It's there. It's less sweet, more in the back of the palate, a little on the dry side, not too bad. It's got a little sting to it back there and a little pop rocks kind of.

This reminds me of the bloody butchers that I've had in the past.

I think that the Bloody Butcher Corn just brings a very specific kind of underlying note to the whiskey. It may not be the dominant note, but I think you get it in all of them that you try this underlying kind of thing. That's a good whiskey.

Almost seems a little more complex just in trying to pick out the different notes in it.

Yeah, I would say this one has a lot more going on than the Still Austin. The Still Austin was a little more refined. This one's a little bit more sort of a potpourri kind of blend of flavors. A lot of things going on, trying to pick out the notes.

Consentor is only a 3.5% ABB jump. It drinks a little warmer too, though. It does, yeah. There's a little spiciness at the tail end of that.

So this one's a little more expensive. It's a little bit more proof. It's a little more exclusive, harder to get.

I forget the bottle count, but I want to say. probably in that 15, 1600 range, I think.

Now, I don't remember, honestly, I'm just being honest, I don't remember the profile distinctly from episode 399. I'm going to want to say that I feel a little more impressed with this than I was with that. And that was a newer version. Yeah.

Which is funny because I had, texted Bill today. I was like, Hey, we're going to do this today. So he's like, are you trying? What are you trying for? I was like, well, you guys did that on the show. So we're going to, we're going to take a step back to batch three. So, but he's a big fan of four. He loves four, but he also, you know, being who he is, he also says, look, looking forward to five because he it's, you know, It's a new baby, so it's his favorite.

Absolutely. Well, I'll be honest. I don't trust my memory entirely because that was a long time ago. 399, we're at 430, that's 40 episodes ago. A lot of whiskey in between. Yes. But I remember having a great time and really enjoying the whiskeys. I just think that this one has made a really good impression on me. Yeah, they're great guys too. Yep.

Sounds like number one isn't number one anymore.

I'm not letting the cat out of the bag. Oh, okay. Zip. Quit poking the bag. It's a tight race. That's what I say.

Two good pours right there.

Yeah, I wouldn't throw either of them down the drain. They're very good. So you guys did a distillery visit today. We did. I was lucky enough. For Bourbon on the Banks this year, I am partnering with Potter Jean. I'm going to do a painting of their distillery, a component in it. haven't quite figured out which one. And then Denny and his partner, Jane, are figuring out something that they're going to pair with it for the VIP auction. And since we were in the area, I asked Denny if I could stop in and take my own pictures. And quite honestly, I just wanted to see the place. And we had a master class in whiskey production today. It was absolutely fascinating. He spent two hours with us. We got to try some of the first batch that they made. little bit of white dog and man, that place is absolutely gorgeous. And it sounds like they're really coming into it with a healthy attitude with their development. They've scaled back their production. They're planning on building the brand slower and they're being very deliberate to follow the traditional whiskeys. They're not gonna try to short come anything. They're not going to try to push to make more They're going to let the good quality whiskey flow and it's really neat environment. The employees absolutely love the place. It is beautiful.

Now dating and Jane are really a pair. I mean, they just, they work well together. Well, they like, actually they're there. They pick at each other all the time. Oh yeah.

But, um, brother and sister, like some sort of odd couple.

Yeah. Yeah. But the tremendous, uh, resume. Oh yeah. The talent there is just phenomenal. Yeah. And he has, he's racked up with both of them have racked up quite a reputation in the industry for producing great whiskeys at large scale.

Absolutely.

So I wish them all luck in the world. Times are getting a little bit tougher for new distilleries right now, but. Yeah.

It's nice to hear they're kind of like taking it a little slower because I know, I feel like at one point their plan was to maybe do some like contract distilling at something.

It sounds like they're going to do some, but it doesn't sound like they're going to go giant scale on anything.

Yeah.

But yeah, we got, I think they're in the thousands now of barrels. And yeah, it's just so the excitement there and the love of the place that the employees have, it's just a phenomenal place. That was a lot of fun. And this is Springfield, Kentucky.

So this is about an hour and 20 minutes from here. Is that about right?

Yeah, probably about right.

Yep. Yep. And they're not the only ones in the Springfield area. I guess we've got Yellowstone's down there as well. Right?

Lebanon. Yeah, Lebanon.

Not too far from there. And then there's something else that's being built down that way.

Oh, Independence Dave is there in Lebanon too, which that's a cool place. I've heard they do some really neat tours.

I saw their thing on 60 Minutes not too long ago. That was pretty interesting. Oh yeah.

Well, that part of the country is getting a lot more attention than whiskey right now. And that's great. That's awesome. Yeah. I'd like to see the more out of the way kind of counties getting involved. All right. Well, everybody, uh, good to go. Did everybody save just a little bit so you can revisit it later? Absolutely. All right. Well, we're going to take a short break folks. We're going to, uh, uh, chit chat a little bit for our next classes. We'll be back to join you in a few. Don't go away. We will be right back.

Hey roadies, it's Diane Strong with Bourbon on the Banks Festival again. We have another amazing event this year, but we want you to come early because we've got a lot of events leading up to the festival. Starting on Thursday, we've got another mixology with master mixologist Heather Wibbles on the Bourbon Bell and O.H. Ingram. Leading into Friday, we have got Peggy No Stevens. She's back with another bourbon pairing and a lesson called The Stave is the Rage. It's going to be amazing. Limestone Heritage Distilling is going to be bringing in three single barrels. You're going to learn a lot. We've got the VIP coming back, and this year we are celebrating women in bourbon. This year, Bourbon on the Banks Festival promises to be even better than ever. We've already got more than 70 distilleries that are going to be there. More than anything, I need to encourage you to get your tickets as soon as possible. They're selling fast. Some of them are already sold out. If you want to come this year, please get your tickets. We don't want to miss you on October 4th in Frankfort, Kentucky on the banks of the amazing Kentucky River.

Few things pair better together than a fine whiskey and a premium cigar. And Smoky's Lifestyle Cigars are where flavor and craftsmanship meet. Their exclusive collection is meticulously hand-rolled from aged tobacco sourced from the Dominican Republic. Revel 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 five 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 TheHillHouseKentucky.com All right folks, so we are back. We had a nice little break there. Ate a few munchies. Yeah. A lot of cheese. A lot of cheese. Nuts. Some salami. Yeah. I hope it doesn't interfere with our palate. What do you think?

You know, it's a risk we got to take. Sacrifices must be made.

I can remember, I can remember going on a barrel pick to peerless and we had picked our barrel before lunch. We came back from lunch and we were doing a blind again just to confirm, and everybody flip-flopped from the barrel they'd chosen before lunch to the barrel they disregarded after lunch. So it was 100% flip-flop. AMZ did flip, I flipped. That's funny. Yeah. Akali flipped, we all flipped. It was unreal. So that food can really affect you. Yeah, thank you. I believe it. We've had just a little bit of a variety of food. So I think maybe, well, we'll just give it a fair shake. Yeah.

I would suck for a charcuterie board anyway. It's just simple and easy and, and then Jim's dip. Yes.

I like that. I did. All right. I'm glad you enjoy it. It's just a little bit of Frank's hot sauce and some shredded chicken and cream cheese and the secret ingredient. Water chestnuts. Water chestnuts. Give it a little crunch.

Now you guys had some barbecue for lunch today, didn't you? We did. We actually left Potter Jane and we're headed down the road and we found a place called Bourbon Trail Barbecue in Amish Deli. it was some of the best barbecue I've ever had. And Jerry lives outside of St. Louis, so I've had St. Louis barbecue and this was every bit as good as that. And they actually had used barrels and used barrel heads. So I grabbed a couple of barrel heads off of them so I can do some more paintings of bottles on barrel heads. And it was just a wonderful place to eat. Real mom and pop shop. One definitely to look for.

So definitely, if you're in the Springfield area, it's a place to go. I know the dining choices in Springfield aren't like numerous. There's only a few places there. This one was really good.

There's one other place I've gone to, Malachi's. Malachi's, yeah. We've been there.

Nice little place to eat. There's a Mexican restaurant there. I can't remember the name of it, but it's pretty good. And yeah, it's not too far to get into Lebanon or into Campbellsville.

But there's not a lot more there either. Right, right. For those of you who don't know, Doug is like our resident artist for the Bourbon Road pretty much. I think it's what we're, you know. If we put him on staff, that's what we'll put him as. Put him on payroll.

You've got paintings with most of us.

You do contracted work. I do. I do commissions.

And Melody's hired you to do a couple of commission paintings. They were fascinating.

I think I've gotten to know all your bird and feathered friends on the farm here rather intimately.

Yeah. Well, when we get to the end of the show, let's take a minute and you let everybody know where they can find you in case they're interested because they might want to see some of the work you've done and maybe even talk to you about doing a job for them.

That'd be great. Awesome. Yeah, I love doing. Rick House paintings are some of my favorite and the stills, it's neat playing with the reflections. And you don't just only do bourbon stuff.

No, I do a little bit of everything. I do a lot of portraits. But that's how we love you. That's why we love you. Yeah. Yeah, you've got an eagle at the Rare Eagle Bar and- I have two eagles at the Rare Eagle Bar. You've got two eagles and you've got a picture of Rob, thief in a barrel too. There you go. Yeah. Wow.

He's got a couple airplanes of mine. Oh yeah, nice. He's done for me over the years too.

That's cool. Fantastic.

All right. Well, pour number three. Pour three. All right. We're jumping from, we started with Jimmy Red Corn, jumped to Bloody Butcher. Now we're going to go back to Jimmy Red Corn. And this is Highwire Distilling's Jimmy Red. This is a single barrel bourbon of theirs at 116 proof retails for about 99.99. So about the same as the WH McBrayer. They're out of Charleston, South Carolina. And I couldn't find much on the mash bill on this one. You know, some people share that knowledge and other distilleries don't. But it did say an age of a minimum three and a half years.

Now, they are distilling their own? Uh-huh. Okay. I know there was one distillery down there, not too far from there, called Burnt Church.

Yes.

And they were actually contracting with Jeff the Creed and got some of their

Okay, so that's the one that's really close to Drew Hanisch. He's been on the show quite a few times.

Actually, their family is from Upper Sandusky, which is where we're from. Bourbon circle. Yeah.

It's a bourbon circle. So this is a low country bourbon. Low country bourbon.

I used to live in Charleston. I've flown out of Charleston several times over the years. Didn't know they had the bourbon there.

Yeah. So there's also a lower, it's a single barrel that someone picked up for me. I knew I wanted to do a red, red corn. thing at some point. So they do have a 95 proofer that's, I guess, would be considered their shell first. So, but yeah. Good deal. Check it out. Cheers.

Okay. Kind of reminds me a little bit of the Still Austin.

Yeah, a little bit. It doesn't have the, it's missing a little something from the Still Austin.

Yeah. It's not, it doesn't have like the strawberry. Yeah. There you go.

The fruity component.

Raspberry, strawberry kind of note. It smells very good. Yeah. It's got a little more oak to it.

Yeah. That's what I was going to say. A lot darker than that still Austin. So I'm thinking this owner, I don't know if they use smaller barrels, but it's a lot darker.

It's quite a bit darker. And what was the proof again?

116. 116. Okay. Cheers. Cheers.

Oh, that is very viscous, thick, heavy. Oh, very mouth coating. It is. That's rich. Yes, it is. It is. It's kind of. I just don't know. I ate all that stuff during the break. I'm kind of getting a little bit of chocolate from it. I can see that. But I don't know if it's like reacting with some of the things I had to eat, but I am getting a little bit of a chocolate note. It is very rich. It's very round. It's got a big, wide flavor to it. Ooh, I like this.

I like it a lot. It makes the pallet happy and go back to the nose.

The nose opens up a little bit more.

Now that I've had a little bit on the pallet sits right in the middle of the tongue. It does.

This is good. This is well balanced, full bodied, well balanced.

It's a total wine pick.

So total wine pick. Well, they, they did a good job picking this one. This is a good one.

It does drink a tiny bit hotter.

Yeah, there's some heat to it. Yeah, I definitely feel the heat.

But I love the flavor. What was the price on that one?

$99.99. Add a penny to it. Yeah, add a penny. Craft. Production comes a little. You guys know, I mean, craft distilleries have you probably stopped and visited.

Well, yeah. And the regional distilleries, I think, are kind of the wave of the future, kind of like the craft beers. Agreed. We've talked about that.

Yeah.

You have the local areas going to support that, and you have to have a good flavor to match it.

It's going to be hard to conquer the world anymore. Absolutely. Because there's just so much.

This is, and you hear me say this once in a while, everywhere all at once. It just touches all parts of your palate and makes an impression. It's very, um, um, a lot of times you'll hear say, you know, really it's heavy on the back or it sits in the middle or it's soft up front. This is just everywhere all at once. Very sticky, very viscous, full body, bold. Rich.

A little bit of a sweet component to it.

A big caramel bomb. There's a lot of caramel in that.

A little less earthy. Yeah, it is a little less earthy. I agree with that.

What's the name of the story again?

High wire.

High wire.

I actually thought it was related to the, there's a, speaking of breweries, there's that high wire brewery out of Asheville. And I, for some reason, I always thought they were like, it was kind of like, you know, how some breweries like, oh, distillery is getting big. So let's start distilling. Cause I can think of like three Floyd's, obviously, uh, Lexington, uh, all tech. Yeah. Hard truth. Um, so, but no, uh, one's in Asheville, North Carolina, and this is in the, in the South. But yeah, this is impressive.

Yeah, I think personally, the Jimmy Red is, so I like the earthiness of the Buddy Butcher, but the Jimmy Red still has this sort of, this earthy richness to it, but it's got more floral and lighter notes to it. So it's kind of a, I don't know. I don't know if it's the methods they use to make it or it's actually the grain that's given us this. I don't know, but. It's really good.

Someone smarter than us probably knows.

We have to get back to Charleston. I'm ready to go again. That was fun. We had a good time. We went to Charleston a couple of years ago.

And they've got some other, I did a little bit of a dive on their webpage. So they've got like a peach brandy finish, which sounded kind of interesting, especially you think about, I'm finishing this. There's a sherry finish. They have a bottled and bond, very similar to Still Austin. So yeah, there's a, I'm pretty sure that's all they use is the bloody, or sorry, the Jimmy Red.

So that's also an Air Force town. There's an Air Force base there, but there's also a big, huge Navy base. But I remember the Air Force base used to be not too far from the airport.

Right. Yeah, Charleston Air Force base, it's kind of... It's a big mobility base. They're flying the big C-17 cargo missions out of there pretty much. That's usually when I'd fly in there supporting them. It's always a nice hit to town, see the sights and stuff when you get the moment.

I lived there for six years. I really enjoyed it. I was in submarines when I was there, but it's always many years ago. This is way back. I can't claim it anymore. Melody likes to tell me I can't claim things anymore. I did live in Charleston a very long time ago, and I always loved the town. We did go back and visit about two years ago and did the whole tour thing. Went back to the Battery Park and went on the big aircraft carrier.

We actually watched the fireworks from there. Oh, nice. It's a beautiful place to see it from.

Oh, yeah. It was really fun. All right. Well, everybody got their notes. Everybody feel like, uh, you know, where you stand with your three so far. Yeah. Any hints, Doug? No, I've learned to keep my mouth shut. Yeah. I saw Todd give you that. That's right. That's all it takes.

Really? Don't let Laura see that. I know. I've been trying to figure that out for years. You guys got to figure it out in a second.

Shh. There's more burden involved when I talk to them.

All right. So shall we move on?

Yes. Let's move on. So speaking of the blue corn, when we did that episode, we tried one out of the blue that a friend had picked up for me. And they're out of Florence, Missouri. And it's Wood Hat. Very small operation. They are one of the only wood fire distilleries. So they actually cook. Let's see. Yeah. They have this heat transfer oil. thing that they get up to 375 degrees that runs through coils and then goes into the mash ton to heat the mash and all that type thing. So really different process. They do different sized barrels, but we've actually reached out to him, but I feel like this poor guy is like a one-man band and doing everything. He was like, yeah, I'd love to be interested, but then radio silence kind of thing.

Sometimes when you're just, you and maybe another person or two and you're trying to do everything, you just don't have time for it.

He's the PR, the janitor and everything. So this is their Cast Strength Bloody Butcher corn. So we're back to Bloody Butcher this time. This is a corn whiskey, kind of like we had the blue corn whiskey of theirs and we were Really wild. I remember. It did run up against the Smoke Eye Hill, which is a great, great pour. But I mean, I think we were really impressed.

I remember just having a heck of a hard time during that show trying to keep Smoke Eye and Wood Hat separate. I kept saying, Wood Eye and Smoke Hat.

But this one clocks in at 123.4. So it's the biggest of the bunch. Also retails for about $99.99.

OK, so this one is is is give me that bloody butcher vibe.

Yeah, it's got a sharp. It's got a really sharp like.

But I'm getting no gets deep fig on the end of it, though, like fig. All right.

So I'm getting like some herbal type things going on here this time.

It's kind of a, yeah, like a syrupy, thick, almost like a molasses cake.

I was going to say a little bit of molasses on that.

Yeah. Yeah.

Earthy molasses. Yeah. Sounds like a great band. Yep. Cheers.

Cheers.

Okay. Every time I think corn whiskey, I always think sweet, but... This has got a lot of concentrated flavor. Yeah. It's very concentrated. Be curious to know what size barrel this was in.

It feels like it's smaller barrels though.

Yeah. It seems like there's more of a barrel presence to it. Yeah.

Is he using smaller barrels? I don't know.

All over the place. Yeah. From whatever. Yes. Okay. Yeah. According to my friend that picked me up the, uh, the blue corn when they use small to even the large.

So. Kind of reminds me a little bit. They're different whiskeys. So don't take this the wrong way, but it kind of reminds me of some of the earlier 291 stuff. Very.

Oh, wow. Do you get that too? I do a little bit.

It's really rich too though. Oh wow. Yeah. This one's hitting me more in the back of the palette.

Chewy. It's very chewy. Yeah. This is, this is after dinner for sure.

Yeah. Oh yeah. This is, this should be a good one with the cigar.

Cigar, whiskey. This would be, yeah, the cigar blend.

Good characteristic. It's got a nice color.

I think this would go good with cookies.

Now you've got to explain yourself. Jarrah's wife Cindy makes incredible cookies and brought some for the Bourbon Road crew. pictures on them, which blows my mind.

Yeah, it says the Bourbon Road. It's got bottles on it. Pretty interesting stuff. We're going to have to make a post about these.

Yeah, we'll definitely post some photos. They're really cool. She's a cookie artist. I kind of don't want to eat one, but I will. Oh, you have to.

Sacrifices must be made. I do think this would go good with a cookie. I think it would.

It would probably pair well with a cookie. You know what I was thinking?

Yeah.

Carrot cake. For some reason, this would go with a carrot cake. I started thinking about desserts in this bar, this pool or nothing like carrot cake.

So why carrot cake in particular? Because it's a, it's not, it's more of a, like a, It's because it's got the like the vanilla cream icing on it, right? But is it because of the cake itself or the icing? Yeah.

Yeah. We'll say both. I'll say both.

Add a little vanilla flavoring to it. Yeah.

Yeah.

I'm pleased. This is good.

These were all four great whiskies. I mean, all really good whiskies. Um, I think, uh, It's nice to try this, this alternating between Jimmy Red and Bloody Butcher, Jimmy Red, Bloody Butcher, because you can really, when you do that, you can really see the differences between them. And I'd like to say now that with this experience, I could pick them out, but I probably can't, you know, you always get fooled when you go blind.

Yeah, for sure.

What do you think, Chair? Could you figure out the two corns? Not a chance.

Not yet. But there is a distinct differences between them that you can definitely pick it up and develop the palate for it. But for me right now, just learning, it's just been exposure that not any one bourbon has been the same or not one whiskey has been the same. So you got to just develop the palate, figure out what you like and be able to find them.

He's just learning bourbon. I'm like, here, try some red corn bourbon. Wait, what is that? What's that? Here, try some of this 123 proof.

So we had some 139 proof like a week or two ago, didn't we?

Yes, the chocolate whisper redux thing. Oh my goodness.

Which was crazy good. Well, we actually got blessed to try the sludge at the rear Eagle 2.0 last night. Yeah.

Is that, it's called the sludge? You're a wastewater guy, so that kind of scares me.

That's what Rob called it. It was the bottom of the barrel clean out from a Jay Mattingly barrel. Okay. And it is incredibly dark and it has every wood taste to it that is possible in it.

When you've got, when you've thieved all the whiskey, you can get out of a barrel and then you sweat it.

You squeeze it out.

You sweat it so that it squeezes out a little bit more and you pour it into a jug. He got, what did he get, two and a half bottles he said? Yeah, two and a half bottles out of it.

And it is the darkest whiskey I think I've seen, but it actually tasted okay. It didn't taste too bad. But if you wanted to pick out barrel notes on anything that was, you know what it reminds me of, Todd?

The OCD.

Oh, yes. I could see that. It reminds me of that a lot. I kind of get the vibe. I mean, Dave's kind of at Glens Creek is kind of secretive about their whole process, but I kind of get that they do like the interstave, you know, like more staves in the barrel and kind of let them sit for a while. And it's going to be a tough call. Yep. I'm going back. And then you go backwards. That's different.

We're getting close to having to make up our minds here. Okay. Jerry, you ready? You got your numbers? Not quite. Oh, you better get busy. Maybe. I've got mine, I think. I think I've got mine. Um, and it's, there's a couple that are really close for me. Agreed. This isn't like a clear kind of thing. And, and also, I think it's at least from, from the ones that I've picked, I don't feel like the food overly influenced what I chose.

I think you had the half at the right spot because the last two are a little more full flavored.

Yeah. All right. I'm, uh, I think I'm ready. You guys ready? You need to revisit anything done? I think I'm ready. All right. So how we're going to do this is we're going to go, everybody's going to pick their number four. Okay. All right. And there's no way we can do this without a little bit of influence of each other, but you'll each get the chance to go first. Like for example, Todd's going to go first and name his number four. All right. And then I'll go second and name. my number three after I've responded to number four as well. So we'll all come out and say what our number four was. Then I'll go first and say the number three and then everybody has to say their number three. And then Doug, you'll say my number two, your number two. And then we'll all say our number two and then we'll go back and say the number one.

Should we throw the rookie into the top score? We're letting him see us all go first, first, and he can go first, last.

He gets to pick his favorite. And it doesn't matter. You don't have to match everybody else. Todd and I don't always match. But what we're going to do is at the end, we're not going to tally the numbers, but we'll get a gut feeling on what's what.

So I always like to say today was another day where they're, those are all four or five pours, I think. Oh yeah.

Absolutely. And the last one we just had, the wood hat, it was also right around the a hundred dollar bottle. Okay. So all these bottles were right in that same price range. So we can throw cost out the window here, right? We're just talking about flavor.

All really low production probably in the most, I mean, obviously the single barrels probably a couple hundred bottles. So, but yeah. So am I leading off? Yeah, you're leading off. All right. I think it came in fourth the last time, but I'm going to go still Austin as my number four. Great pour. I think I may even like that red version than the blue version, but there's just something more. I guess the proof obviously is a little more, but there's just something like, more depth and quality to these other three beyond that. So I would love to see like a single barrel of that because I think it would probably, they probably have some great single barrels.

So of the four whiskeys that we tried, the Still Austin was the most sessional, I would say. And for me, it was also my number four, but it was very close to another one. There was one other one that was really close. It wasn't like super clear to me that it was my number four. Okay. But yeah. And I think the reason was is like, like we'd say so many times, I mean, it's proof matters. It just does. I hate to say it. Proof and texture. Proof and texture.

Spoilers, the texture things on some of these other ones. Yeah. Blew me away. Doug, your number four.

My number four was the number two. Okay. So I don't know what that one. That was the McBrayer. The McBrayer.

W.H. McBrayer. Okay. Fair enough. And Jerry? Mine was the first one that we did. Okay. That would be the still Austin. Yep. All right. Okay. So, so Doug's got to leave.

You can stay voted out of the bourbon road.

It's kicked off the Island. There you go.

Uh, my number three was the, um, make prayer and, you know, I, I just think that I don't know. I don't want to say this because it'll give it away. My, the rest of them, I'm not going to say it, but I just think that for me it was, you know, it was very close to this. When we had both those together, one, two, I wasn't decided a little bit. I wasn't sure which way I was going to go on those two, but it became more clear later. I see. Well, anyway, so yeah, the McBrayer is my number three.

So my number three would be the Still Alston.

Okay.

Okay. Just because it didn't. You're back in. You're back in. I'm kidding.

Yeah. You get to play again. Good.

It just hit my palate a little better.

Okay.

All right. That would be the last one that we did.

Okay, so you're going with the wood hat. And that, that was a lot of whiskey. I mean, that was a big whiskey. So being a relatively new connoisseur, probably came, came- A little strong for me. Came in a little high.

A little too intense. Yeah.

I can see that. And that's what this is about. I mean, these, these whiskies are not meant to be like clearly one, two, three, and four, right? Because we're all different people. We're different places and we have different palettes too. So. All right. Doug, your number.

Oh, Todd. Sorry.

I almost skipped you. What is your number?

I'm going to go with the McBrayer.

Yeah.

Yeah.

I'm like you.

Texture thing. Yeah. I think so. I'm a sucker for viscous. And I just love that mouth coating that does. The other two that are going to be in my top two bring to the table, if you will.

Yeah, absolutely.

All right.

Well, Doug, you get to lead off on the second place. On my second place, I've found out that I'm not a huge Buddy Butcher fan. So mine would be the number four, would be my number two. The wood hat. The wood hat. Okay. Okay.

And Jer. I'm back to be the number three, poor.

The number three. So the Jimmy Redd. Jimmy Redd from Highwire. Yes.

And Todd? I'm going to go with the wood hat as well. Yeah. Once again, it's the second place. Really surprising because, like I said, it sounds like a really small outfit. I love it. It's a great pour. But one out shown it today a little bit.

I think so. I'm with you too. The wood hat was my number two. Yeah. So three of us had the wood hat at number two.

How about that?

How about that? Great minds.

There you go.

All right.

So now I'm back in the roadies.

Now we're picking number one favorite whiskey of the night, Jer.

My favorite was the second pour.

Okay. The WH McBrayer. Yeah. Good deal. That's awesome.

I thought it was just a nice subtle flavor to it, but it wasn't overpowering the other one and just had good flavor that I enjoyed more than the others.

Yeah. And if you're not, I'll be honest, if you're not, if you're listening to this and you're, and you're somewhere in your whiskey journey where you're not quite pounded down the 120, 130. I can see where one and two would appeal to you for sure. Absolutely.

Um, Tom, my number one is the Jimmy red from high wire. Uh, ticks my boxes.

For me, the Jimmy Redd for sure.

And for me, the Jimmy Redd. I just love the way it hit the whole palette at once. Really nice.

That was clear to me. I mean, that was pretty clear to me when I was tasting.

See, three and four were close and one and two were close for me.

Yeah. But I just, I knew when I tasted the wood hat, how much I liked it. It was very impressive. But I just knew already that Jimmy Red was going to take the cake. That's a great whiskey.

It is a very good whiskey.

I know that we differed a little bit along the way, but I think we can, do we all agree that if we kind of mash the numbers in our heads a little bit, Jimmy Redd's in first place. Yeah. Jimmy Redd, definitely. I mean, three first place votes for sure. Wood Hat in second.

Yeah.

Kind of, sorta. Third place was the McGrare.

Probably close. I mean, depending on how you like scale the points kind of thing. Yeah, it's close. It's close. And then it's still awesome. I mean, Jared gave it a first place.

Yeah. I think the math would be hard, especially after we've had four pours.

But that's okay. I think we could get a cookie ratings. Like he gets four cookies instead of stars.

Great show. Lots of fun. Yeah, that was fun. I do like comparing whiskies of similar types like this. It's interesting.

Yeah, and bringing some stuff to the table you don't hear much about too.

As a fan, it's been really fun with Todd putting together the different shows here lately. It's been very interesting. You guys have had some wonderful themes.

Yeah, he does a good job. He really does. I mean, we're blessed to have him on staff here and it's just, it really has upped our game just a little bit.

Well, we're all really glad he ended up coming to terms with his attorneys and his people, met your people.

He was holding out, but we finally...

I was like, I got kids, I got work. It's been a lot of fun and yeah, it's good to hear. Doug's been very encouraging. He texts me and tells me I'm doing okay.

So, you know, as long as I got one fan out there, I think I'm killing it.

So Doug, what do roadies need to do if they're coming to the Bourbon Trail? Oh man, they need to get a hold of you guys because you guys are the key to having a great time. You need to relax and have fun. Try not to set your schedule too tight. If you think you're going to do four distilleries in a day, you're nuts. Check the forecast. Oh yeah, look at the forecast. If they're calling for 12 inches of rain, don't stay in Frankfurt. Bless those people. I feel so sorry for them and everything they're going through, but it's really neat to see the community pull together to help one another out and Todd's a fine example of that. But don't be afraid to step into the little mom and pop shops and try the different restaurants and ask friends and always drag somebody new every time you come.

Yep.

So you got drug this time, Jerry, coming back? I hope so. I think it's been a lot of fun. I'm learning and I'm enjoying it. So that's always what brings you back is when you have a good experience.

Well, we'd love to have you guys back again. It's a lot. Maybe next time we can get up to the corner of Rick House and have a few pours up there. You've been there before, right?

I have. Several times, actually.

All right. Well, Doug, why don't you take a minute and Let everybody know how they can find your website and your paintings and find out more about what you do.

That'd be great. It is countryacresartist, name of my business, and countryacresart.com is my website. Contact information's all on there. I am on Facebook. I'm one of the roadies. You can always friend request me on there. I have a Facebook page called countryacresart.com on there. any commissions I'm happy to do. And if you become a roadie, please participate. It's a great club. The more people you get talking, the more fun we have. It's just a fantastic atmosphere. You don't have to worry about offending or upsetting, and it's just a good time.

Yeah, it's a lot of fun. Yeah, we highly encourage our listeners to check out the Bourbon Roadies Facebook page and join in with all the fun there. It's a great group of people.

Yeah.

You've made quite a few friends through there. I have. I have. Well, Danny Potter was through there.

He's on the road. Keep pumping those numbers up. Appreciate it.

And subscribe to the podcast.

Definitely. I have to get on there now.

Well, Todd, thanks again for putting together such a great show. I'm always looking forward to the next one. It's lots of fun.

You never know what's going to come from this mind.

Yeah. Yeah. You were so plugged in. You just know, you know so much about what's going on in the whiskey world and you have your, you have your tentacles into so many different, uh, uh, groups of media people out there.

If by tentacles, you mean I have a lot of bottles of bourbon, then the answer is correct. Not as many of Rob, apparently.

All right, well, folks, you can find the Bourbon Road on all social media outlets. You can find us on Instagram, Twitter, YouTube, TikTok, Facebook, threads. We do all those things. Every week on Wednesday, Todd and I will put together an episode. Sometimes we're sitting down with roadies like we did tonight. analyzing a few pours and picking our favorites. Sometimes we'll have industry people on, we'll travel about sometimes and go to distilleries and it's always fun. We're always having a great time. I think we always get a few laughs. And you know, sometimes we even have bonus pours. And we've been getting to them. I didn't have one today, sorry. We have actually been getting to the bonus pores lately. But we hope you'll tune in every single week. We'd love to have you make us part of your day. That part of your day where you have your headphones on, you might be sweeping or cutting grass or whatever it is or painting. You know, whatever it is that you do with your headset on or with Alexa by your side, make sure you include us in that. But until the next time, we'll see you down the Bourbon Road.

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