441. Winner Winner Chicken Dinner

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 Loretto, 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. Todd and I are so thankful to be back with you again today. We're hanging out in the corner of Rick House. The Frankfurt Bourbon Society has an event tonight. We've gotten here a little early. We've pulled out four bottles of whiskey, appropriate for today's show. We're going to work through them. There are four different whiskeys from four different makers. Looking forward to them. There's a little bit of a mix here. There's some Ryan, some bourbon. What else we got, Todd?

Let's see. We've got a finished bourbon from, well, we won't do the spoilers, but a finished bourbon, a American whiskey, which we'll save that for last and there'll be an obvious reason behind that, a old Monongahela foolproof rye. It's kind of a new style coming back. You saw, I think we tried the old overhauled style that was based on that mash bill or that kind of style. And then, yeah, we've got a, just a double barrel bourbon and yeah, should be fun. Double barrel. Okay. So what are we starting out with first today? We are starting with the Gypsy. And if you recall, last year we got one of their, like the Alchemist and it was like a blend of Canadian. There was like a Indian single malt and Was it a bourbon or something? It was a really wild mix and it turned out really well. I think we were both really surprised, but this is, they've kind of gone back to the basics. This is going to be a little cheaper retails for 44.99. It is a double barrel bourbon. It is a blend of four years, a minimum of four years, um, double barrel to new American Oak. And, uh, yeah, so they were kind of enough to, I didn't even have to ask for this one. They just sent it. So it was really cool.

So cool.

Let's check it out. Yeah. And if you recall, Gypsy is the brand of country singer Eric Church. Oh, yeah.

He's one of the investors. Nice sweet nose on it. You can definitely, now this is, I'm assuming the double barrel means that second barrel was toasted more than likely. Probably so. Yeah. Getting a real nice sweet nose on it.

Nothing out of the ordinary. It's like vanilla, caramel. Like you said, there's a nice sweetness to it. A little more sugary kind of on the nose though. Which might be coming from that second barrel. Cheers. Cheers.

Oh, I like that. That kind of reminds me of a Buzzer Druce a little bit. Yeah.

Very nice.

Like I said, 86 proof. Yeah, that won't break the bank. So 40, just a hair north of $40, 86 proof, second barrel. That's hard to do. That's hard to make $40 whiskey when you consume two barrels in the process. Yeah. This is a nice sipping whiskey. It definitely is not going to, it's not going to bowl you over. If you're a high proof person, this is not your whiskey, but if you're a sweet whiskey person, you'll like this one.

Yeah. Yeah. Agreed. The speed fund, I like compared to some other, you know, reasonably priced double oaks I can, you can think of out there. Now I do know they, um, with this, the company tried to use like local grains and things. So they kind of kept it, I'm not sure. It didn't really say where those local grains came from. I can bite and color. Only I think maybe it came from Tennessee since he's from Tennessee. I don't know. But it does use some Cherokee white corn, which is, I mean, you don't usually hear- I don't hear about that very often. Just kind of white corn is like the generic.

Yeah, this is a great whiskey for going into spring and summer, I think. It's really light on the palate. It's definitely got more body and bite to it than some other whiskies you find in the 80 proof range. I'd agree, yeah. It's got a little more- A little more spice.

It does. Yeah. And the palette follows the nose pretty well. Yeah. There's a nice oak component, though. I'd add to that vanilla, that caramel, maybe a little berry going on there.

Got any Eric Church fans out there? Be sure to let us know. I mean, I like Eric Church. Melody went to a concert without me, though. She was down in the mosh pit, down in front of the stage.

Do they mosh at country shows? No, they don't mosh.

But she was right. She loves getting right down in the front of the action. She always gets the VIP. Whenever possible, I do, too. Whenever we can get the VIPs. We love being down front.

We have done a whole lot of shows, but we did get tickets to Billy Strings. He's a guitar wizard and playing at Rupp. He's playing two nights at Rupp. I'm sure some of our listeners out there know who I'm talking about. And we'd like to have seen Tyler Childress just played this past weekend at Kroger Field, and I heard it was an outstanding show. And I'm a big fan of him. He's a local guy.

Well, we did reach out to Tyler at one point, but he never got back to us. Go figure.

He's kind of blown up a little bit.

It's just a little bit. But Brent Cobb's got a new one out, and he did get back with us. And hopefully, we can maybe wrangle him in here soon. That'd be nice. It's been a while since we had a good music show. Yeah, this is nice. I guess it's well-crafted. I think this has done well. I think the price point's good, the proof's good. Well, the proof's good for those palates which don't really fare well with the higher proof whiskies. I think if you're somebody that likes the lower proof whiskies, if you've got somebody in your family or a friend, your friend group, and they're not quite to the 100 plus level on proof, this would be a good one for them.

Yeah, great introduction to a double barreled. I mean, obviously you think double-oaked Woodford. This might be kind of fun to throw, hey, try this double-oaked and try this double-oaked as well. Sure. Absolutely.

I think I'll add this one to my list. I like this. Yeah. I don't have enough of this profile of whiskey in my bar, I think. I'm kind of a little limited when it comes to, when somebody says, hey, I'd like to try some bourbon, but I don't want anything too hot. I don't have a lot to reach for.

Sadly, I do not either. I mean, the Dusty's are typically 86, 80 proof.

But finding somebody who likes a lore-proof whiskey that has a sweetness to it that still is sort of crafty and has some good flavor notes to it, I think, yeah, this is a good one.

Yeah, since this is a media sample, it doesn't say where it was distilled, but I don't know. I kind of get the feeling maybe Bardstown, maybe they do it there. Could be.

They pick up a lot of the big high-profile brands, I guess.

Yeah, they're one of those that does not have been affected Contractor still ain't too bad, I don't think. Maybe a little, but.

Yeah. All right. Well, I'm pleased to have tried that one, and I look forward to maybe adding a bottle to my bar. What do we have next, Don? So up next is Liberty Pole Spirits.

This is their Old Monongahela full-proof rye whiskey. I actually ordered this directly from them. They are out of Washington, Pennsylvania.

OK. Yeah, that's Washington, PA. That's kind of, if I'm correct, listeners, correct me if I'm wrong, but it's north of Pittsburgh, sort of upstate.

Yeah. I know it was pretty close when we were up there in that area. There's a lot of little distilleries kind of pop up in that Pennsylvania area that are kind of trying to revive that monogahela rye that was so popular back in the day. So the mash bill on this is 74% rye, 13% wheat, and 13% malted barley. OK. And it says the youngest barrel in the blend is at least three and a half years old. Oh, cool. Now, I got this, and I was a little alarmed. I mean, I just wanted to, like, I think Amzie even ordered the same thing, because, you know, Amzie's like one of those. He likes to try craft stuff, and he and I both do. When I first tried it, I was like, oh, this might be a little youthful. But the more I kept sipping it and going back to it, I kind of, yeah, just kind of fell in love with it.

So I had hit the nose earlier. So I actually went to the palette a little quick on this, but I'm going to go back, back to the nose again and say that this has sort of a spicy, this has that spicy gumdrop kind of note to it as well. I get that sometimes with rise that are, um, I don't know, just, they have sort of the, an interesting mash bill to them. It does have that kind of a serial nose to it.

Yeah. The grain really pops. It is pot distilled. OK. And that helps. Yes. That probably, I mean, if you've had pot distilled out there, it kind of highlights the grains a lot more until it gets a little older, I think.

Now, Liberty Pole is sort of a throwback to the revolution. Did you get some notes on what a Liberty Pole is?

Yeah, I wasn't that prepared.

Yeah, so it was a way for a community to show their rebellious nature during the Revolutionary War. They would erect a Liberty Pole, and on the top it had this foraging cap on it that sort of denoted that, hey, they're part of the resistance. You know what I mean?

Yeah.

It's kind of a brave thing to do. It's kind of a real brave thing to do. It's one thing to be quietly resistant or to be in the background, but to stand up and put up that Liberty Pole and say, we're defiant, we're against the king. That's a big deal. That is cool.

So this retail, I got this for $67, but I did order it from them directly. So a little bit of shipping on that. And I'm pretty sure, obviously you should be able to find it in Pennsylvania and some other states.

I like it. And you mentioned earlier, it kind of reminds you a little bit of the three chamber ride a little bit, just because I think of the serial kind of note to it, the depth and the thickness of it as well. It's kind of nice. And I may not have said the proof. It's 108. OK. Well, it certainly doesn't drink 108. No. It is settling in for a little bit of a hug there, though. Yeah. But it's a nice one to follow that gypsy we had at first. When you hear people talk about, I'm drinking a rye and I'm getting rye muffin, this is kind of it, right? Yeah, yeah.

And I'm very bread-y. That spice drop really, yeah, it's carried over.

Yeah, spice drops and rye muffins.

It really sits on the back of the tongue, too. There's not a lot of residual sweetness to it, probably any at all. It's a little zippy, that spice drop, a little mint.

Yep. I do like it. Boy, I'm sort of getting in the habit of this. I'm just wondering if I just like whiskey, just in general. I just like whiskey.

I think a lot of these spices are just, their stuff's getting a loader. I mean, this has three and a half and probably some, maybe some four and five in it. And I don't know, I think. They're just getting better. The craft guys are getting better and learning things.

There was a time when a good portion of the bottles we received in were marginal. New distilleries doing their best, learning as they go, doing the best they can. And you're right, they've kind of learned from their mistakes maybe and done things a little bit better. This is good.

And maybe, I'm sure you guys probably got some just straight bourbon that was probably two years or something. Oh, yeah. Oh, definitely. Just to put, you know.

I can remember saying many times, I can see the future in this, but right now, I'm not sure.

I remember you saying that quite a few times.

And well, the future is now in certain distilleries for sure. Well, monogheedle or rye, I think that it is something that's come on the show or at least come up in conversation on the show a number of times in the last couple of months. Yeah. So I think that this is an expression or a profile or a category of rye whiskies that's gaining a little more notoriety.

Yeah, I think, you know, you'll start I think some of these states that are distilling, you'll start seeing a little more regional themes, I guess is a good word. There's an Indiana straight rise. It's a thing now because of, well, the Alan Bishop formerly of Spirits of Franchelik and, you know, I expect a New York rise. It's becoming a thing. Empire rise.

Yeah, empire rise. Empire rise and Monongahela rise and Indiana rise and why not?

Yeah.

I think it's great.

It gives an impression that your state does it well, you know, kind of. Absolutely.

As I continue to sip on it, I'm starting to get a little bit more of like a buttery note to it and it's softening a little bit. I think that this one is one that, and we kind of quickly gathered ourselves for this podcast and sort of poured things and started drinking right. We really didn't give these pours time to rest or to open up. And as we continue to sip on this one, I can tell that it's developing or my palate's becoming more acclimated to it. It does have a very nice texture to it, a buttery note. And you mix that buttery note with that rye muffin and a little bit of that spice drop in the back. I mean, I just love it.

Yeah, yeah. It's good. It's very mouth-coding, too. First pour, I was like, this one might be going to Jim because he liked that three chambers ride so much, which who knows? Maybe if I went back to that, I'd be blown away.

Well, I just think that this is sort of a profile that maybe doesn't have to be at the top of your list. This doesn't have to be one of your go-to main profiles that you like to drink. This can just be one that's a nice surprise from time to time. First, when I nosed it, I was like, oh, it's got a little bit of a youthful note to it. But I think I mischaracterized that.

No, the nose does come off youthful, but I think that part of that might be that pot distilled. And, but like I said, I think the palate is where it's at for sure.

I wonder what this is going to do later on in life. Should they continue to age this? I think it's going to get better. It's going to get deeper. It's going to darken. It's kind of, we're not going to go a little bit more towards, um, I think less sweet, more sort of deep spice, um, kind of, uh, Oh, the Indian spice. What's that stuff called? The, um, I don't know the, the stuff you get in the little dish when you check out at the register at an Indian restaurant, you know what I'm talking about? It's not cumin. It is cumin. I think it is cumin seed.

Yeah.

But it's mixed with some other things.

Yeah.

So we've got a couple more drinks coming up in the second half. We've got a couple of bottles that I think our listeners are definitely going to want to stick around for. What do you think? Yep, definitely. All right.

We've got a big boy in the mix.

We do.

A very big boy.

It's last, right?

Yes, it is.

All right, folks, will you stick around? Todd and I are going to pour two more in the second half. The first one's going to be, I can just tell by looking at it, it's going to be delightful. And the second one's going to Well, in the night. Yeah, in the night. All right. Stick around. 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.

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All right, roadies, welcome back to the second half. We are in the midst of doing another review show because we've been lucky enough to get some bottles, or I actually picked up one of those in the first half, and that was the old Monogahela rye from Liberty Pole. We also tried the gypsy double-barreled bourbon, which, yeah, two very nice expressions to start with.

Yeah, I like them both.

Yeah. So now we're going to up the ante a little bit. The first one we got from our good friends who we just had on recently, the Ricky and Rick Johnson. The 15 stars, this is their Fine Aged Spirits Three Ports. So the story behind this is it is a Kentucky straight bourbon whiskey that has been aged in tawny, white, and ruby port cask. It's a blend of 15 year old bourbon and nine year old bourbon.

Whoa, these guys do it right.

Yeah. young stuff in there. Uh, borrowed at 105 proof. Uh, let's see, I want to say the cost was about 149.

I think the whiskies are not cheap, but they are exceptional. Yes. Yes. Yeah. And this one has a great deeper sort of it's it's got a reddish tent to it too. It's kind of a dark chocolatey reddish tent. I'm putting it to my nose. And what was the proof on this? 105. 105. Definitely not like attacking the nose. It's not like a lot of ethanol coming off. It's just very.

They kind of like that spot between like 103 to 110, I think. Yeah. That's their sweet spot. And they were just here at the corner Rick house not too long ago. Yep. That was Ricky came and Jason. I forgot Jason's last name, but he was there. He's one of their ambassadors. Great guy. We had a great time and a great turnout. Awesome. Yeah. They brought four expressions to try. So that was a great night.

Yay. All right. So the nose is just deep, but subtle on the alcohol content. I don't think you could really gauge the proof by the nose. I'm at the blueberry out there. Yeah. I was going to say grapey or a little bit of grapey too.

Yep. I get it. Yeah. Both of those.

Like, but I guess that makes sense with a port, right?

Concord grape, even like grape, you know, the grape jelly.

Now port is, uh, is going to be a little bit deeper, darker, richer kind of concentrated wines. Yeah. Yeah. So,

I'm also getting, I hate to say it Jim, I'm getting a little banana. And I think that's that base bourbon they use. They can't tell us about, but you can, if you put two and two together.

I'm trying both nostrils, getting the same thing. This is well centered. I think it's got a great nose on it. I'm going to, I want to take a taste. Cheers. Cheers. Oh yeah. that definitely has a port palette. Oh, that's really good. That is really good. The barrel, the oak, um, is, uh, is, is definitely present. It's kind of a rich and I say meaty sometimes because I mean, it's got, it's got this, this, this character of a savory kind of savory note to it, but definitely, uh, tawny port note.

You're getting the tawny more than anything? See, I was thinking ruby.

Were you really? Yeah. I am certainly not a port connoisseur, so.

Blackberry, or maybe even like blackberry compote, raspberry, like a berry compote type thing.

Yeah, definitely really nice, really good. Their whiskies are phenomenal. They're just well-crafted, very rich, and full of flavor, full of a complex flavor. If you haven't had a 15 stars whiskey, I would highly recommend you give it a shot. It's something that... Definitely a bar pour if you're a little scared. Yeah, it's a bit of money, but good stuff. Definitely check out their website. 15 stars, I don't know if it's 15 stars bourbon or 15stars.com. I think it's 15stars.com. I think if you search 15 stars bourbon on the Google, you're going to find them. You'll find it. Yes.

And you can order directly from them. I think he said, if I recall correctly, like, pretty much every state, but maybe like four or five. I know like, you know, Alaska and Hawaii are always out. Sorry, they're so far away, but shipping to those places is probably phenomenal.

And we've gone over their story before. These guys are, they're Indiana farmers. They actually run a popcorn farm operation, which is kind of cool. It is cool. They do partner with Barsdown Bourbon Company. And I do know that there are some expressions of their whiskey that are being developed with popcorn as the grain.

I'm very excited about this.

Yeah. And in particular, I don't remember the... the exact name of the popcorn they use, but it's a kind of a black popcorn.

Yes, yes. It'll be the first I've ever, you know, black popcorn bourbon that I know of out there. Yeah. So that's pretty exciting.

Pretty cool stuff.

Yeah. I love the top of their cork. It almost looks like, I guess, it kind of has that old quarter look to it as well.

Yep. And we usually always have a couple of bottles of this at Bourbon on the Banks, and hopefully they'll make it this year. I believe that's their intention, so that's fantastic. Fantastic, yeah.

And speaking of, I ran into Diane Strong. As you know, she's a member here, and you know, Frankfurt's kind of a small town, so we run across each other sometimes. They're still out of their house. They're living in an Airbnb, and I think they have to move to a different one or something because of logistics or because the Airbnb that they're using right now has someone coming in. Last she said there were, I think, somewhere about only 350 tickets left for Burbank on the Banks. That's obviously the first Saturday in October. And I think there might be a few VIP tickets, and also that, yes, the Thursday night kickoff will be hosted by our good friends at Whiskey Thief. Oh, fantastic, because that was amazing last year. We had such a good time there.

Yes. I would say make sure you make that part of your Bourbon on the Banks trip. It was that much fun.

Yeah. It's like a hit. It's our hidden gym. I think it is.

And, and it was not just, you know, whiskey thief in their whiskey, but the who's who and bourbon turned out for it. It was really great. So the crowd was filled with, uh, people you'd love to meet.

Okay. All right. I like that one. All right. We're ready to move on to poor four. All right, so this is Jacob's Pardon 18 year small batch American whiskey. This is, are you ready for the proof? This might be the highest proof you've ever had on the show. I don't know. Could be. We almost hit hazmat with the chocolate whisper redux a while back.

We had some 146 or 143 on. No, we had 143 on from 291 distillery. I think it was 143. Okay.

What's this? This is 142.7. Okay. It's probably cracked the top five. Yeah, it's definitely in the top five.

And the good thing they put pardon in the title, they're asking your forgiveness before you drink it. Right.

So a little bit of background on the Jacob's pardon. So brothers Jacob and Abner Taub made their own whiskey during Prohibition, but they were arrested and jailed for violating the Volstead Act, which that is the act that made Drinking, basically like- Prohibition. Prohibition, yeah. So President Franklin D. Roosevelt actually pardoned the brothers, I guess, sometime after that. Oh, actually, it says, with the ink on the 21st Amendment still drying and Prohibition finally in the rear view mirror, President Franklin D. Roosevelt pardoned the brothers. So I guess, let's see, it looks like- some of their third, it says third generation. So Mark Jake and Paul Taub, they are great nephews to Jacob, decided to start this. So yeah, 18 year American whiskey. And yeah. I'm ready to dive in.

Sounds good. I think that it's definitely a good day when we can drink 140 plus hazmat whiskey and hopefully it's not going to set us a fire.

And it does retail for about $94.99. Okay.

Yeah. Well, you've got a rule for that, right?

How does that work? If you're getting $10 a year, that used to be the thing. But what about the proof?

Is there some math for the proof?

Well, let's see. You're going to make me do 18 and 142 proof 18 years. So it's less than 10.

I should never make anyone do math while they're drinking whiskey. Start bringing a calculator to these shows.

All right. So I get like this, like it's sugary, sweet, like almost like burnt sugar type thing.

Yeah. And you're not going to put 140 proof to your nose without getting a little bit of cinch. So actually it didn't, it didn't like punch.

I'm thankful. Cause I kind of forgot what I was diving my nose into.

Yeah. This, this is like a, a high octane, a cracker jack.

I like that high octane cracker jack.

Yeah. So were you a big cracker jack guy when you were young? Yes. Yeah, you ate a lot of cracker jacks.

That was one of those things, you know, you go to a baseball game or I remember my dad was a big softball player and actually in Chevyville and, you know, near your home. And, you know, that was, I didn't, I usually got a hot dog, you know, for dinner and then, you know, cracker jacks were the dessert, I guess you could say.

I tell you, I'm going back and nosing this and I'm trying not to let my nostrils get kind of like overloaded or burn out. But there's some interesting notes on this. It's got a very nice nose to it, I should say. But it can definitely burn you out. You got to be careful.

breadie too, like almost like sweet bread is what it makes it.

It's buttery too. I mean, it's got like a warming kind of buttery mouth feel to it.

Oh, so you've sipped. I have sipped. Oh, I cheated. Sorry, buddy. That's all right. I'll catch up. Cheers.

I'm going to, I'm going to hold my tongue here just a little bit and let you catch up. Oh, wow. And that kind of warming and buttery and... Super sweet. Yeah. Very nice.

Super, super sweet. And that's what I expected.

Yeah. American whiskeys. I mean, we don't spend enough time with American whiskeys, I think.

I think I could deal with them every once in a while.

Yeah.

We discussed it before the show. Sometimes they could be like one trick ponies. You get a lot of sweetness. Yeah. And it's like this burnt sugar or like cotton candy, a little bit of like smoky, like sweet smoke. Does that make sense? Yeah, absolutely. But this one being 18 years, there's a little more complexity going on there, I think. Maybe that's a trick with these. Get a little age on them.

Very warming. So, you know when you drink like a cough syrup, you get that real warming effect that you know it's going down and it's going to stop the cough and it's going to settle yourself a little bit.

I have a correction. Yeah. 195 is the price. 195. Yeah, 195. Okay. It's typo and something.

All right.

So that's a little over the 10. Yeah.

So, but a little over the 10, but the proof kind of adds value a little bit, I think. So if you're going $10 a year, and then you add in a little bit of a kicker bonus for the proof, because you can have a 17 or 18 year old whiskey that's at a hundred proof.

Yeah.

Or you can have a 17 or 18 year old whiskey that's at 140 proof.

You think this one would take water a few drops?

Yeah. Piece of ice. I think so. You think it should?

I think you should try it as is just to see, but yeah, I think. a cube or maybe a couple of drops in it might like soften it just a little.

Yeah. So for this one, I don't think I would put a cube in it to cool it down. I think I would, instead I would probably give it a little bit of water, maybe a little bit of limestone water, something just to sort of cut it, cut the proof just a little bit. I think there's some tremendous flavor there. I'm afraid that a cube might shut it down.

Might. Might take it too far. Wow. We've had four really interesting expressions today.

And we're going to rate them. We're going to rank them. Rank them. Rank them. Rank them.

We rate them by ranking them.

That's why it works. Do you have them in your head already?

Yes. Okay. My number four, and it's probably because I'm a little more proofy guy, but I'm going to go gypsy. That's a great introduction to like double barrel bourbon. To me, it's just lacking a little bit of proof. But at 44 bucks, that's a buy.

That is a good price. That was a really good whiskey. And for me, I think I'm going to lean a little bit more towards the rye. Okay. But it was close between the two, I think. I think for my number four, I'll choose the Monongahilo ride, the Liberty Pole, and yeah. And then for my number three, I will go ahead with the Gypsy. Okay. Because they were both delicious. They're both good. But I think the Liberty Pole kind of came home for me a little bit. I do like those kind of serial rise a little bit more. So that kind of makes sense.

All right. My number three is actually going to be this Jacob's Parton, like I said. Wow. Yeah. OK. It might be the most complex American whiskey I've ever had. Although I've had some of the O'Carter. O'Carter's kind of known for their American whiskeys. But yeah, I don't know. If I'm looking at a shelf at a bar or something, I'm not looking at the American whiskeys at all. I'm looking at a bourbon or a rye or something like that. I get it. It's just not my jam. All right. But the hat's off. That's one of the better ones I've ever had.

What was your number two?

My number two is going to be the Liberty Pole, the Omanagahela. Like I said, I was a little skeptical at first, but it sounded really interesting. I ordered it. When I first tried it, I was like, oh, this is a little, I think I even called it Farmy, maybe. But it kind of grew on me. And that might be due to my palates, your palates always changing. Something you tried a long time ago. tick the boxes like it used to. So I think that's what's fun about bourbon, whiskey, and rye in general. But that's my number two. But my hat's off. I'm very excited to see if they can get on up into some older age statements on that. Because yeah, some six, seven, eight could be a lot of fun.

All right. Well, pardon me, Jacob, but you're number two for me. Well played. I think it's a great. ultra high proof expression. I think it's something that carries a lot of flavor with it sometimes when you get with the really high. And I've only had a few of them there at that level, but it gets kind of hard to be 100% sure you're picking because of flavor rather than just proof alone. I think it's had a great flavor to it. Um, it was good. Um, I, I don't think I would add it to my bar only because it would be kind of, it would be that high proof novelty instead of, instead of just something that's really good. You know what I mean? But it was for me, it's still made number two on my list. All right.

So we're at number one, and we both agree.

We both agree. We chose the 15 stars three ports. Three ports, yes. Did they call it a triple port?

No. It's triple cast, but it's a three port. Right. Fine age, spirits, three ports. I want to say maybe I think they put their bourbon blend into each and then blended those three. But if you flip the bottle around and look at the top of it, Triple cast finish. So yeah, that's why I think they do three separate casts. So they put some in the tawny, some in the ruby, some in the white. And their triple cast expression. Be curious to know. We'll have to ask them next time we see them. Was there a certain percentage of the ruby that went in, that kind of thing? But yeah. That's a night cat pour. I have a feeling it might go well with the cigar.

I think it would. Yeah, I think we have some cigars in our future tonight. Stanton is coming up. Stanton Holder, for those of you who know him, a longtime roadie, is driving up from Florida. He just had an event in Georgia, and he's coming in for the night. And he's bringing bundles of cigars with him, I'm sure, because he's Mr. Cigar Man. Mr. Cigar Man. And he also has a great palate, loves his bourbon, and just loves, well, he loves frank bourbon society too. So I think we're going to have a good time here tonight. Awesome. Awesome. All right, folks. Lots of fun. Yep.

Another good, except we've been getting some great bottles.

We have. Makes it easy. We absolutely have. It's been really good. Well, you can find the Bourbon Road on all social media outlets. You can find us on Instagram, Twitter, YouTube, TikTok, Facebook, threads every single week. Todd and I will put together an episode on Wednesday. We'll try to get you through the day. We'll, uh, you just put those headsets on and zone out and tune us in and we'll have a great time. We'll drink whiskey. You listen. Hopefully you've got a pour in your hand as well. But you check in with us every single week and we'll just have fun together. The best way not to miss an episode is to scroll to the top of that app you're on, hit that subscribe button. That way every week you get a notification that Jim and Todd have dropped another episode and we're going to get you through that task you have to do. It might be cutting the grass or sweeping the house or whatever it is that you do with your headset on, driving to the next sales call, whatever it might be. We'd love to be a part of your day. But until the next time, we'll see you down the Bourbon Road.

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