442. Six Finished Whiskeys Head to Head

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 Oh, welcome back once again. Todd and I are hanging out in the corner of Rick house. It's a beautiful Sunday afternoon. We both got some yard work done today and, uh, you know, get the, get the important stuff out of the way, the things you have to do so that you can sit down and have a great pour today. You've got six great pours for us, Todd.

Yeah, the folks at Los Lantern who I talked to a couple of months back were kind enough to send us their latest, their new spring 2025 collection. So this dropped about, I guess, like the first week of April. And yeah, they've sent six really unique, obviously craft oriented pours. And the thing with these is they're all finished in some sort of way, shape or form. And yeah, there's no duplicates of distillery. So all six different distilleries and six different finishes.

So it should be really fun. But now we have six pours we're going to taste through on this show. So I'm assuming there's no bonus pour.

I think we'll be fine. We're busy. The funny thing is they did send us some bonus pours cause they were kind enough to also include some small pours of like three of the finishes. So you could try the finish.

Like the thing that came out of the barrel that was used for finishing the whiskey.

Yeah, it might not have been necessarily that one, but I guess like a version just to give you an idea of what it is and what it tastes like.

Well, that would be cool to try after you tried the whiskey. So try the whiskey first and then try the thing that was in the finishing barrel. Right. Well, anyway, not today.

Six is enough. So if you recall, I spoke to Adam Polonsky. He was kind enough to join us on Streamyard one evening and talk to him. And it was really wowed by everything they had. I feel like I have a finger on the pulse of craft, but there was some stuff I hadn't heard of. And then recently, we had the Malt Migos. We had that St. George single malt that was so crazy different and good and just really blew us away, I think.

I can't remember. Did that take the night?

Yeah. It did. You, AMC, and I, that was our number one, I think, Rob's maybe two or three, I can't remember. But overall, yeah. Yeah, it was pretty crazy good. Yeah, crazy good indeed. And fun thing is, I think we actually have a couple of single malts today. I know there's a rye today. And yeah, so should be fun. I didn't try these. They're all pretty small, like two ounce pour or samples. So we're flying by the seat of our pants here. We don't know. Hopefully I expect they're going to be good. All right. So you're taking us in order of proof today. Yeah, that's what I'm going with. But I'm kind of looking. And then the second half, I'm like, eh, we might need to switch that one around. Because I do see a peated Texas single malt.

Which may be a little. Spoilers, spoilers. Yeah, so we may want to move that one to the end, right?

We may move that to the end. Because those last two are pretty close in proof. Sure. But we may switch that around. So the first one we're starting with is Finger Lakes Distilling, and I may be killing this because I did not take French, POMMEAU. Pommo. Pommo. Pommo. Yeah. Finnish, New York straight wry. It's a single cast. So Pommo is a French apple beverage. It's kind of like an aperitif over in like the Normandy, Brittany area where apples grow well. Sure. And it is made by blending unfermented apple juice with apple brandy. Oh. So it's kind of like, I guess an apple makes drink a little bit.

You're cutting it down a little bit with a little bit of apple juice. Yeah.

Rather than water, you're cutting it with a little apple juice.

That's a good idea.

And then aged in a mixture of oak barrels, it says. So yeah. All right. New to me. I mean, I'm like kind of. All right. Let's check it out. Yeah. Cheers.

Cheers. Oh, yeah. Oh, yeah. I'm getting that. Definitely that apple brandy. Apple, applesauce. Yeah, this is fresh. This is fresh apple. This is definitely applesauce. You said it right.

Yeah, this is like perfect for today, too, because it's like a nice, lovely day. This makes me think of what I've been working out in the yard today.

Oh, yeah. Yeah, I would say that this would be, again, we're just nosing it for the moment, but this seems like something that would be great over ice. It just would be something that would be very refreshing.

So this one's only 91.7 proof. SRP was $100. So with craft and sourcing from craft, it's going to be a little pricier. There were only 205 bottles of this. So there could be a slight chance, depending on the hype surrounding some of these, that they might not be available. Los Lantern is one you can order directly from if they allow it in your state. I know some went to Silbox and there may be some out there in some of the bigger markets.

If I remember correctly, the way Los Lantern does is they have a kind of a bespoke club shipping that goes out on a regular basis and you become part of that club, but you can do one-offs too. I believe so. Yeah. Yeah.

Not necessarily always single barrels. They'll put like batches together of like certain things. They like, they'll take some different single moths from different places and kind of make like a batted version, like of like four or five different single moths. But yeah, this, this nose just rings like spring orchard.

I'm thinking it's going to be sweet. It's going to be a definitely a very brandy like on the palette. I think it's got like a real fresh kind of, yeah, light airy spring like note to it. So let's check it out. There's a little bit of cinnamon nut going around there.

Cheers.

Oh, okay. So a little bit more like apple turnovers. Yeah. More towards the baked good apple on the palate. Wow. That really transitioned from fresh apple sauce on the nose. Apple turnover, apple pie. Apple pie, yeah. A little cinnamon on top. I think you'd have a hard time finding somebody that didn't like that.

Yeah. That's really good. It is good. It is good. It's not, it's not traditional bourbon in the sense.

This is more, this has more.

Rye. Don't forget it's a rye. Sorry.

This, but what I mean is this is a little more heavily finished than your average finished whiskey.

There's still that at the tail end, you get just a little of that rye peppery spice, but yeah, that works well. So it says the rye whiskey was aged for six years before finishing for three months. So it's actually a light touch on the apple, the pomo.

Well, it came across pretty strong. There's no mistake in the fact that there's apple on this.

I like it. I know. I like it a lot. That's lovely. Yeah.

Yeah. Like I was saying earlier, I think this would be good, uh, over some cubes. It would just be very refreshing.

Yeah.

Yeah, for sure.

All right. So what do we have in our second class? All right. Second glass is from Starlight. They are out of Borden, Indiana. Fairly big craft brand. I mean, you can definitely find them in this general area a lot, and probably Ohio and some other things. So this is just one of their classic honey finished straight bourbon single casks. So 265 bottles out of this. SRP on this one's only $80. Um, this is a four year Indiana bourbon and age for three months in a cask that once held barrel aged honey from their farm. So they're keeping it in the house. Yes.

All right. I'm not getting it on the nose. There's a little bit of like floral. Yeah, I'm getting a floral.

Clover honey kind of thing. Oh, okay.

Yeah. I'm not, I'm not getting the honey aspect of it, but I am getting the floral note. light on the sweetness, light on the spice. It's very, yeah.

Oral is like the big thing. Yeah, I think so. Very garden-esque, I guess.

All right, cheers. Cheers. Now the sweetness comes. A lot of sweetness. Oh yeah. In spades. The nose didn't carry a lot of sweetness, but boy on the palate is there. Now I'm getting the honey. Yep. Wow, that's good. Yeah, this reminds me of one of those honey sticks.

Yep. That's kind of funny. My daughter just had one of those like a couple of nights ago. You know, you have to cut the top and it's kind of like a little straw. Oh, this is also good. I know.

We got all the flavors tonight. I know.

And everything's like, it's literally shouting spring.

Like this is, you know. Yeah, I think he did a good job.

This is sweet, but like we said, the nose was a little light and floral, and like it just made me think of like walking through like a, Like a meadow with like the flowers and stuff blooming.

It's really good. I wonder if the theme will continue throughout all six pours.

I don't know. The fact that we've got that pita one is kind of like maybe that's a Texas spring.

Springtime in the peat bogs of Texas doesn't have peat bogs, but they must import their peat. Do we have peat in the US anywhere? Or is that just a kind of a Europe thing?

I feel like in Washington state, some of the single malt places out there, I've listened to other podcasts, maybe with Drew, that they've tried to do their own peat. But like you said, some of the others have it shipped over here from Scotland, which probably costs quite a...

I would think so. Shipping dirt? Yeah.

That's kind of dirt, but yeah.

Shipping dirt. Are we going to rank these today? We can. I think it's going to be a matter of, and we might find something that's exceptional, but I think it's going to be a matter of what appeals to our palate. Do you like apple? Do you like honey? Do you like whatever the next one is? We'll see.

I think so too, yeah.

So far, it's been spring-like and sweet and floral. So it's really, I wonder if that will continue. You said something about the peat. What do you think?

Yeah, that one. It'd be hard to pass off as spring, wouldn't it? Maybe Scottish spring? I guess. You know, I've been to Edinburgh and yeah, it's so unique. I couldn't figure out the aroma until I got home. But it's like they're hops. And I guess the barley there, because there's a distillery in Edinburgh. And there's also a huge brewery there. So every time I'd get up in the morning, there would be this really hoppy, barley smell. And it just didn't click until I was like, what's the smell in Edinburgh? And then Google told me. I was like, oh. It's like an Isla, Isla Spring or something. Or Lagavulin Spring or something.

All right. I like it. I think it's got some underlying note on it, on the nose. It's sort of a little bit of a musty, kind of a musty note.

It's opening up a little bit. Yeah, I like that. It's a good shout. All right. I like it because the honey is sweet, but there's still that undertone of the bourbon itself, which some of their straight bourbons I've had have been really good.

It's kind of nice finish on it. It kind of sticks with you a little bit. I think it is kind of a sweet, it is a sweeter pour. Somebody who likes sweeter bourbons will definitely like that. But it does stick to the rear of the palate.

It kind of hangs around for a while. Agreed. All right, shall we move on to number three? Number three. Oh, I may have said, did I say 110 proof on that starlight?

OK, 110 proof. And you said it was sourced bourbon, right? No, that's theirs. That's theirs.

OK. And four year, and then finished for about three months. So this third pour is from Santa Fe Spirits, obviously out of New Mexico. And this is an Apple Brandy finished New Mexico single malt, single cask. There were only a hundred bottles of this. Oh my goodness. A New Mexico single malt. I know this might be my first pour ever from something from New Mexico. Wow. So bucket list thing. Uh, only a hundred bottles available. SRP was a hundred dollars. Um, apparently they are a pioneer of Mesquite smoked single malt. Um, and this is made from obviously a hundred percent malted barley with 30% Mesquite smoked. It's aged three and a half years in 53 gallon barrel before finishing for over a year in their apple brandy barrel.

In their own apple brandy. Yes. Wow. Oh my goodness. On the nose, apple juice. Like straight up, Mott's apple juice.

But I'm getting like that, I'm getting that mesquite too.

Yeah. Oh, like there's smokey note is there. It's almost like a mezcal kind of thing going on.

Maybe not quite as herbaceous as mezcal gets, but like. like a burning apple wood or something?

Oh, man. This definitely reminds me of that mesquite smoke nose a little bit.

Did you ever try that oak forester, the ranch, King's Ranch or something? That was mesquite smoke, I think, out of Texas. Yeah, I think I did. Distributed mostly in Texas.

That is a unique nose. It is. I'm kind of like it. I'm kind of wondering if this shouldn't have been in the second half. Yeah.

We have to rinse the pallet after this one.

We got to break after this one so we can rinse it.

110.11 proof. 110.11. All right. I'm ready to dive in. Cheers. Cheers.

Not super sweet. A little bit more. medicinal, smoky, reminds me more of an Isla kind of.

I don't know if I go that far, but yeah.

A little bit, but the smokiness has got a different, it's different. It's not, it's not Pete. It's more, it's more, it's almost like this was finished in a Mezcal barrel. Ms. Cal barrel and Apple barrel and then the two were blended.

Yeah, kind of. I like that.

It sits nicely on the palette. Yeah, it does. It doesn't like over, like for me, heavily, it's not heavily medicinal or iodine, but no, but the smoke is light.

It's like that wisp, like just like a, I don't know, like if you just char something just for about a little bit or something. Yeah. Or like when you say you get your chimnea going and if you had some Mesquite and like you're kind of standing far away, you just get that little wisp. Man, that's really unique. I like this.

It is. Of the three, the most unique flavor profile so far. But each one's brought its own sort of profile to the game. To the party, yeah. Yeah, it brought its own act to the party.

I mean, you can still pick up that apple. It's almost like, yeah, put apples on a grill a little bit. Like that apple brandy. I've never grilled an apple before. I've grilled pineapples and such like that.

I've never grilled an apple either. I wonder why not. That is tasty. Yeah, it's really good. Not for everyone. It is not for everyone. I think, um, this would be for a limited group of people. Uh, it would be for those who've had smoky whiskeys before who've had, um, mezcal or, uh, peated scotches. Uh, and it does lean a little, a little, it's got a little bit of iodine kind of medicinal flavor to it.

A little. And if that's your thing, this is one to try for sure. Be curious to know if this is something that was just for them or is this is something that Santa Fe puts out in-house a lot? Yeah, I'm really impressed. The malt Migos, we got to ride again at some point. We're definitely going to have to ride again.

And we need to be looking for some Santa Fe. And the great thing about American single malts or American whiskeys is the diversity out there. It's tremendous. And the great thing about regional profiles, it's just wonderful. You're not going to get an apple finished, mesquite smoked, single malt. Anywhere. Except New Mexico, right? I mean, maybe somewhere else.

Yeah, I was going to say you might get it. It sounds like something you might, obviously, Texas. Southwest. It's definitely a Southwest regional type thing for sure.

But who would have put apples and mesquite together? I mean, that's kind of cool.

It's brave.

Yeah.

Here comes Alabama. If not, there's like that, uh, you know, it's a 53 gallon mistake, you know?

Yeah, that's really good though. All right. Well, we've, uh, we've been able to set aside three of these in short order. Uh, I think Todd, we're probably going to need to have a mid break pour just to clear our pallets that that one's going to stick around just a little bit. I liked all three.

Yes. Those are three winners.

I'm not going to give anything away. I think I've got my order for the first half though. And we'll see what happens in the second half. Folks stick around. We have three more whiskies all from Los Lantern, all finished in the second half and the proof can only go up from here. That's right. All right. We'll see you around.

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 of the show. We've been going through three of six from Lost Liner, their new Spring 2025 finished collection. And the very first pour we had was a Finger Lakes Distilling out of New York. It was a Pamo, and again, I apologize, I did not take French, I took Spanish. It's Finger Lakes Straight Rye finished in Pamo, which is, we found out is a, Basically cider meets brandy blend to kind of, I guess, rather than water it down with water, they water it down with a little bit of more cider. So the second port we have was Starlight out of Indiana. It was their bourbon finished in their own honey casks.

And the honey just, I didn't get it that much on the nose. I think he picked it up a little bit, but being on the palate, it came shining through. Yeah, for sure.

And then lastly, unbeknownst to me, I just saw Apple Brandy Finish New Mexico Single Malt from Santa Fe Spirits come to find out it's also mesquite smoke. So it kind of threw us for a curve. And so we took a little break and cleaned our palates as best we could and had some crackers and some water. And yeah, we're ready to dive in.

We're recharged and ready to go.

We have three more. Pour four, yeah. OK, so what's pour four? Pour four. is called Opulent Orchard. And it is from New York Distilling Company. It's out of Brooklyn. OK. And keeping kind of with it, there's a little bit of a theme because this is also Apple Brandy finished. And I do believe they send us a small sample of New York's Apple Brandy. OK. So this is the biggest one of the collection, I believe, because they took three seven-year-old Ries from New York Distilling. each finished in American Apple brandy barrels and yeah, kind of put those together. There are 410 bottles and the M the SRP is a hundred bucks and proof is 114.9. So right there.

Yeah, right there. And so these are empire rights then. I guess so. Yeah.

Okay.

Seven year old empire rise finished in Apple brandy barrels, which yeah, the finger lakes,

Kind of similar.

Yeah.

But it had that cider from the pomo, so it's going to be interesting to see if there's some similarities there.

Okay. And let's check it out. Okay. It's much, much less on the nose.

Yeah. I'm actually, the rye seems to be shining a little more on this one.

Yeah, the ryes are definitely front and center on the nose here.

Getting like that fresh mint.

A little bit of citrus in the background. Okay. Yeah. Not picking up a great deal of that apple, but you know, I, it can't come through on the palette and just make it's stage entrance. Maybe a little bit of black licorice and it's in the back. Yeah. Not super sweet, just a little bit of sort of traditional rhinos, but something else. Something else is going on there.

I've had a, they're, I think it's called ragtime rye. And yeah, really, it's a really kind of, I recall it being a little more grassy, which is, so this is kind of interesting that this is a little more minty.

It has been a while since, this wasn't, this is not Kings County. No, this is New York distilling. New York distilling. Got it. Okay.

Yeah. All right. Let's, let's check it. Yeah. Cheers.

more savory.

Oh yeah.

Or meaty more, um, deeper, darker. I mean the liquid's not, the liquid's light.

No considering it's seven years, which is kind of surprising. Although the, you know, New York. Oh, I'm wondering where that's coming from. It's a nice spice and sweetness. I think it's a nice balance of both of those.

I'm getting more like dried fruits. Like, uh, I don't want to say figs because it's not, but it's, it currently leaning more in that darker dried fruit range, but dried apples. Maybe, maybe. I mean, I haven't had a lot of dried apples in my life, but you know, I, I would assume that it's probably an apple related flavor, but, um, it is, uh, It's almost like it's aged, like it's aged dried apples or something. It's definitely, um, different.

Yeah. This is one that seemed to let the rye shine a little more, I guess. Cause it's got a, it's got that nice peppery spicy finish.

A little bit more like a holiday fruit cake kind of. Jam going on there.

So you've gone Christmas and this is spring. Not that, the fruit part of it. Not the spice, not the spice, but just the fruit.

It's kind of like a candied fruit, a little bit more dried, darker, candied. Yeah, definitely not a Christmassy flavor, but different, way different than what we had earlier.

I like that though.

Because the two we had earlier, one took us sort of in that applesauce, that range of apple, and another one took us sort of towards the apple juice a little bit more. And this one's really rich. Really rich. Like a great concentrated.

Probably the best texture of the first, of the four we've had so far.

I agree, I agree, sure.

Yeah, it's really soft. but it's got a nice spicy finish. It's just, it's sitting on that tongue and just not going away. I like this a lot.

This is going to be maybe like, um, aged apple butter, aged apple butter. Like really, is that a thing? I don't think it is, but if you could age apple butter to get sort of tar like, okay, this would be it kind of. Wow. These guys are crazy good at what they do. I know. I mean, it's, it's unreal. Cause this is like a, we're on this, this like journey, this fanciful journey of flavors through finishes and wow, three totally different apple finishes. For sure.

But I think that's our last Apple finish, so.

Is it? Yeah. Okay. One more little sip here. One more little sip. Yeah.

I'll join you.

I like the finish on this one as well. I think we had one in the first half, which the finish really impressed me. And this one kind of does too. Yeah. It definitely is very sticky on the palette. Sort of hangs around. You can talk, we can go back and forth with you and I can chit chat for a while and it'll still be there, so.

All right, ready for five? Ready for five. All right. This is from Watershed out of Columbus, Ohio. And this is their nocino.

Nocino?

Is it nocino or nocino? I probably should ask Google, but I think it is nocino.

I think in Italian, right, Italian, one C is ch and two Cs is guh, I think.

But this is a Nocino, we'll get there, but it's an eight-year-old single cask. There were 200 bottles, 126.5 proof, so pretty big boy. We've jumped up that. SRP is $90, and Nocino is black walnut liqueur. And I know they make their own Nocino there. And so I'm assuming...

So I'm assuming Nocino is a barrel-aged liqueur.

I don't know if it's, yeah, probably.

Or they're barrel aging theirs. That's how they're getting those Chino barrels, right? Right.

So yeah, like I said. They aged this, the bourbon itself sat for three years and eight months, and then it finished for four years and seven months in Nocino.

And you showed me that sample of Nocino and it is black as- It's dark. It's black as a Guinness.

Yes, black as a Guinness indeed. So yeah, this one, I've actually had one of their bourbons finished in Nocino and It was one that was like, I tried it at first and I was a little like, eh, this might not be from me. This might be one to like take to the apartment society and let it ride, you know, like share and like, you're trying this unique thing, but it really grew on me. So this should be interesting. Let's check it out. Let's check the nose.

Yeah. It's not got a, uh, it's not got a real super floral nose.

It's kind of subdued. See, I was expecting like, I remember that previous one being like, so like. Walnutty wood. This is more like butterscotch.

Yeah. I'm not getting the walnut. I know. I'm not getting the walnut. Maybe a little butterscotch. I don't know. A little, um, caramelized sugar, I should say. Yeah.

We saw them, you know, so I'm thinking that's going to be like dark notes on the nose and it's, it is not.

All right. Cheers. Cheers. Oh my gosh. Super, super oily. Okay. Lots of flavor.

Oh, there's that like walnut. Yeah. Oh my gosh.

I'm getting it. It's almost like I'm drinking straight out of an extract bottle.

It's like an, uh, like a, is there like a walnut ice cream? Like it's so creamy, like vanilla butter, Bacone type thing, but with walnuts.

It's almost like you took walnuts and you soaked them in whiskey.

This is crazy.

It's really good.

I'm so tickled.

This is not like the nose. No craziness. This would be one to try for sure.

Yeah. I might fingers crossed. I might have a bottle of this left. I might have to order this one. This is like a, this is like nightcap dessert. Like you could almost pour this on, like I said, ice cream, like vanilla ice cream. I think it would work.

I hate it when I get this like fleeting note that I can't put my finger on. I don't know what it is, but I've had that flavor before, but I just don't, it's kind of annoying. Yeah. So this is like a, um, a little bit of coffee and chocolate in there. Yeah. I can see some roasting. Like a brownie.

Like a dark chocolate brownie. Yeah. But I'm also getting, it's a bourbon, but I'm still getting like this little mint. Wow. That is crazy.

Yeah. So toffee dark chocolate brownies with walnuts, but the wallets were soaked in bourbon for like six years.

That sounds delicious. Let's make that happen. That is, Oh, that's good. Yeah.

You know, Todd, I think it's going to get confusing for us to rank these one through six. Maybe we should just pick our top three at the end.

That sounds good.

Yeah, because I was thinking if we start going back and forth and rating these up one through six, we're going to lose people. So let's just pick our top three.

I think I realize why you said that because this one might be up there.

Yeah, I think this one might be up there. I hate spoilers.

Well, if they're listening, they kind of can hear it in our excitement and where we're chatting about this.

Love it.

Love it. But yeah. But here's the thing. That's five outstanding pours, I think, so far.

And we've got one more to go. Yeah. I mean, if you're not paying attention to Los Lantern, you should be. These guys are really killing it. So good.

Wow. And again, I love the fact that they, like the Los Lantern thing, they shine the light on craft distilleries. Yeah. some of these craft distilleries are just getting better and better and go out there and support them.

I mean, especially if they're in your region, right? I mean, if you're from New Mexico, you should be drinking New Mexico whiskey for sure. You probably are, but you definitely should if you're not. And, you know, if you're from Ohio, you should be drinking watershed. And if you're from Michigan, you know, it just goes without saying, you should drink your local stuff.

Yeah. All right. So what is the sixth and final port, Todd? So we're going to dip down into Texas. This is from Andalusia. This is their tequila finish peated Texas single malt single cask.

Okay. So Texas and peat and tequila. I'm wondering if it's going to be a lot like that.

Do you think? I don't know. It'd be a, we might have to compare them. Yeah. Like I've got a little bit left in my glass. So, um, little stats on this one. This was 122.3 proof. So a little lower than the last one we had, but you saved it to the end. Yeah. With the P did, I was kind of worried, you know, might have to reset our pallet a second time. Uh, 150 bottles. SRP is only a hundred dollars. Um, and let's see. So they're out of Blanco, Texas. Um, this is a single cast. Like I said, 10% lightly pitted, uh, age two and a half years in a cast that previously held and deluges wood smoke striker single malt before finishing another six months in an ex and they hoe a tequila cask. So, yeah.

All right. Cheers. Here we go. Let's check it out. Oh, the pizza. Yeah, it's there for sure.

It's not overpowering though. I didn't mean to like alarm anyone.

No, it has less of a medicinal note than the New Mexico one did.

I'm actually going to go ahead and compare them now. Oh, that's totally different. Mesquite is definitely its own thing. I think this was a light touch.

If anything, we should have put the New Mexico whiskey glass. Well done though. I love it. Yeah. All right. Cheers. Cheers. Oh, it's very nice. Very nice. Sweet solid. Um, the pizza more on the nose than the palette, or at least I'm going to take a second sip and see if it shines a little more. A little bit of iodine on the paddle.

but there's still that really nice sweetness to it. Yeah, it does have a great sweetness to it. Now, Anejo tequila is aged for- At least one year. One year, yeah. And I think I get that slight herbaceous kind of vibe to it.

It does remind me a bit of a tequila, um, but the smokiness starts making me think about like Miss Cal.

Yeah.

But it's, it's not, it's different. This is definitely a different smoke.

Man, this is going to be tough. It is.

This is going to be tough. And, uh, wow.

Get a big dose of like vanilla too on that.

It's like vanilla sweetness, like, um, yeah, sweet, sweet is another vanilla cream kind of sweet in there, but with the smokiness, it's an interesting pairing. All right, Todd, I think what we should do here is we should go, we should, uh, go back and just. Rename one through six again without going into detail. Just, just so we know, so that, so the listeners know what we're picking from.

Yes. So our first pour was the Finger Lakes Distilling Pomoe Finish New York Straight Rye. That came in, uh, just a little bit over, yeah, it's about 91.8 proof. Second was Indiana Starlight Honey Finished Indiana Straight Bourbon. That was a 110 proof. Third was the Santa Fe Spirits Apple Brandy Finish New Mexico Single Malt, and that was just a hair over 110, like 110.2. It should also be noted that they used some Mesquite Smoked Malt for that. Our fourth pour was from New York Distilling. It's their 7-year rye finished in apple brandies. Our fifth pour was the Watershed Nocino Finished Ohio Straight Bourbon. I like how each of those is like New Mexico. They're really touting at the state. So that's pretty cool. This one was the biggest of the proofs that we had today. It was 126.6. And then lastly, we just had an Andalusia out of Texas. Their tequila finish peated Texas single malt. And yeah, I am. Thunderstruck, like all those were just really delicious on their own, for sure. They were all good.

They were all good. And, you know, I'm probably, I feel like I'm going to give unnecessary focus on ones that really grabbed my attention. Yeah, for sure. Even though they may not have been the most exceptional whiskey. When something's out of the box and crazy and you've never had it before, you just get excited. I mean, I just get excited about it. I think it's great. Yeah.

It's like a new pair of shoes. It's like a new pair of shoes.

All right. Um, okay. Just do me a favor. Take that number three again and put it to your nose and tell me, do you get Neapolitan ice cream? The Santa Fe? Yeah.

No, no, I'm still getting that.

No ice cream with a little bit of strawberry and chocolate in the background. It's almost like that Neapolitan kind of.

Yeah, the nose is not. Go back to the honey cask and smell that after smelling some smokey. That was two. Oh, yeah. Isn't that fun? That's like, yeah, like clover honey.

And the first one is just major apples.

Apple mash, yeah. So fun. And cheers to the folks that got us those pours. I mean, obviously, these were all really limited bottles. I'm very thankful that they were kind enough to send us this. All right. And here's the thing. I would say, you've heard these low bottle counts. I mean, there may be some left by now. If not, I mean, I think it's worth if you go to these distilleries or see something of theirs to maybe try them for sure. Absolutely.

Do you have your three?

Yeah, it was tough, man. All right. So. Let's start with our third place.

So the third place for me is pour number six. Pour number six, the Andalusia. The Andalusia. Okay. Really good, really delicious, really different. And I will say this, my top three are all really close. So not a big difference in them, but number three is the Andalusia for me. Okay.

My number three is also the Andalusia. Is it really? It is.

Oh, cool. Yeah.

All right. Really enjoyable. This might be a go for your number two. All right. My number two, I'm going to go. to the opulent orchard from New York Distilling, the seven-year rye finished in apple barrels. Oh, fantastic.

That was pour four. Okay. Yeah. All right. Well, for my number two, I'm going to go with the New Mexico pour. Okay. And so we're a little bit different here. Yeah. We're not, so, you know, the mesquite smoked flavor. I mean, I'm not typically a smoked whiskey guy, but Kind of got me.

Yeah, that's awesome. I loved it too. I mean, like I said, this was a good day. Yeah. We're very lucky to get these. But also, let's hear your number one, because I think we may have a, it might be unanimous.

The Nocino?

The Nocino. Yeah, for me, it definitely is clear the Nocino.

That's, yeah. It was a clear winner for me. The other two were really close. Actually, all three were real close together, but it wasn't hard to pick out the Nocino as the one. Yeah, like I said, it's so different than the one I've actually had. Yeah, I will probably go home and order that one. All six of these, fantastic though. I mean, you could not go wrong with any of them. I think for people with maybe a palate that's not usually, you know, they don't really like smoked whiskeys or or things of that nature. I think maybe the... The Finger Lakes, yes. The Finger Lakes, the Starlight, the Honey. Yeah.

I mean... All good.

Yeah.

That Honey Finish was one of the better Honeyfishes I've ever had too. I would throw that out there too, but... And we're going to combine here.

Oh my goodness. This could be crazy, I think.

This could be a Mesquite-peated Honey Nocino mess too.

Yeah. It's probably going to be a mess. I really think it's going to be a mess, but...

You know, it's always fun to do, just in case. This could be Blendageddon 2026, who knows? That'd be the Frankenstein blend, because it's all over the place.

That's right. Oh, the Texas is standing out.

Yeah.

Yep. That's actually really good. Oh, crazy. It actually is good.

I'm scared, though. Are you? I kind of like them standing on their own, so I might just keep sipping on what I have left.

Sometimes it's fun just to play that. Wow. Fantastic. I mean, super big recommendation to Lost Lantern. I mean, listeners, if you haven't checked out their products, I highly recommend you go to their website. I don't have it at my fingertips, but I'm assuming if you Google Lost Lantern, you'll find them.

Yeah, they're based out of Vermont, if I recall correctly.

Fantastic job here putting together a spring collection.

Yeah. Really good.

I know.

So now I'm like, when's the next season? Yeah. Can we get some more?

That would be really fun to be part of this. I mean, we kind of are because we get samples, but I mean, to be a subscriber and to have these just show up. Yeah. I mean, how awesome would that be? Wow. Amazing. Another great show, Todd. Yeah.

I think as soon as I get home, I'm going to go see if they have any bottles left of that Nocino. Seriously. I mean, roundy bucks. That's not a bad price for an eight-year Ohio.

Yeah. Really good. All right. Another great show, Todd. Thank you for putting this together. And thank you to Lost Lantern for sending us samples that we could put a show together with. I hope a few of our listeners will take the time to check out Lost Lantern and maybe add a bottle or two to their own collections or jump in on that sort of subscription service they have. Right. You can't beat that.

If not, if you can't get it through there, I'd recommend checking Cellbox. I know Cellbox ships are quite a few states. So if you have the wherewithal to do it, yeah, check them out. And if you see it out there on the shelves or at a bar, It's definitely one of those sneaky ones. I mean, they're doing some great stuff.

Well, you can find The Bourbon Road on all social media. You can find us on Instagram, Twitter, YouTube, TikTok, Facebook, threads. Find us in all those places every week. Todd and I get together. We sample some whiskey, sometimes with a guest. We tell you what we think. We usually rate them and give you some sort of our opinion on which ones we think are best to add to your bar, or at least which ones are best to go to the bar and have a taste of. We hope you listen to us every single week. The best way not to miss a show is to scroll to the top of the app you're on, hit that subscribe button. That way every week when we release an episode, you will get a notification saying we've dropped another one and we'll get you through that next driver or cutting grass or whatever it is that you do with your headset on. But until the next time, we'll see you down the Bourbon Road.

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