443. The Great Divide: Bourbon, Barrel Picks, and Beyond

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 a sponsor of this episode and as the official cigar of the Bourbon Road podcast. Our hosts and listeners alike enjoy the ultimate experience of premium cigars. 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. Hello roadies and welcome back to another episode of the bourbon road podcast. I'm your host, Jim Shannon. And today Todd and I are, well, we got a few miles between us. I'm in Colorado. He's in Kentucky, but we're on stream yard and we're going to record a show for you tonight and have a little bit of fun. Got a few things coming up this week. Uh, some great stuff, stuff to look forward to. Uh, but in the meantime, we're going to sit down and drink a couple of bourbons and talk to them, uh, talk to you about them.

Are you doing Todd? I'm doing good. Thanks. It's a little later here for me than it is for you, but yeah. Um, hope you're having a great trip.

You missed a lot of rain here. It's been raining here too. So, uh, yeah, I'm in Colorado Springs, Colorado. The first day I got here, I actually blew out of Louisville on Derby day. to go to a Derby party in Colorado Springs, Colorado. So kind of an odd circumstance, but it was a fun party. We had a great time. I actually won an exact on the Derby race. So that was fun. Nice. I didn't bet any of the ponies this time.

Uh, I don't know. Didn't really get into it. I knew it was just going to rain and be all sloppy, but on the track. But, uh, I think Ampsey did real well. He had the winner.

Oh, that's good. Yeah. All right. So I'm sipping on the, uh, distiller select from Woodford reserve. This is the Derby bottle.

Okay.

This is a 90.4 proof and it is basically just a good old traditional Woodford, but it was nice to bring a bottle out here. It's kind of a, I don't know. It's a bottle they release every single year. It's got sort of the Derby artwork on it. It's, they have a fun day out at the track where they announced the new bottle every year. Uh, but I picked up a couple of these and. And I brought one out here with me to the Derby party. And I guess we had probably 30 people at the party. It was fun.

We had a good time. Nice.

Nice.

Um, well I've got Penelope architect and this is, uh, the third, uh, third of the series and the Penelope architect is basically a straight bourbon whiskey and that's MGP sourced. Um, and it's finished in French oak staves. So it's a 104 proof. And I believe it runs about $65 or so.

Well, that's a good one. I think I've tasted the architect. I don't have a bottle of my own, but how is it Todd? It's nice. Yeah.

It's, you know, since it's got that MGP, it's got some cherry going on. That French oak gives it a little bit of a funky oak character, I guess sometimes.

Yeah. So sipping on this Woodford is just such a traditional whiskey. You know, when, when I came out, we didn't open this bottle right away because they had a bottle of the Evan Williams bottle and bond that they were making mint juleps out of. And I drank a mid julep, not my favorite drink in the whole world. I have to be honest with you, but it was, it was what to do on that day.

So I did it. Yeah. I'm, uh, pretty much a lifelong Kentucky and I still don't think I've ever tried a mint julep.

Yeah, they employed me to help them. So I made the simple syrup out of sugar and water. Nice. And made it on the stove and boiled it and it's easy. Cup of sugar, cup of water, and a few mint leaves and just bring it to a boil.

Yeah. I meant to tell you, When we recorded the loss lantern episode, you talked about them having like almost a subscription service. Well, the funny thing is they didn't at that time, but we literally got an announcement this week where they are starting a monthly subscription service.

Oh, wow. Okay. Well, they did have kind of a club, right?

No, it's just more like their spring and fall releases. So I actually have some information on that if anybody out there is interested. It just started. I think they're taking a maximum of about 180 members for now. Um, now it is a monthly shipping and it runs, um, $90 a month plus, uh, plus shipping. Um, when you sign up, you receive a special sign up bottle and like I said, you'll get a different bottle from. a different distillery every month, and you get behind the scenes stories and insights into the future distilleries, invitations to exclusive events, virtual tastings with the partner distilleries and Adam Polanski of Los Lantern. And then you get early access to all their new releases and things. So I think you kind of had like a Nostradamus moment. You said, You know, you predicted that was going to happen.

My goodness. I don't know. I guess I went down the wrong road there, but yeah, that's great that they're doing it. I really enjoy the whiskeys.

It's becoming more of a thing. You know, Jim Beam's been doing it for a while. I know Makers has something along those lines. The Pursuit guys have, they call it the P club. So I wouldn't be surprised if more distilleries that want to bypass the three-tier system a little bit, maybe look into that. It's a nice way to release some of the limited time offerings without all the craziness at the distilleries too, I think.

So any news from Buffalo trace on how the recovery is going as is the plant back open now or.

Well, funny enough, I haven't watched the episode. Apparently they were on CBS Sunday morning. They had like, I guess probably, you know, one of those like 10, 15 minute. blurbs about that, but yeah, I know they're hustling, bustling on. They've already announced, I don't know if you saw that, they are adding a bottle to the BTAC collection. That's the Buffalo Trace Antique collection. Did you see that?

I did not. This is good news, right?

Well, I mean, you know, it's another bottle we probably won't see a whole lot of, but it's going to be an EH Taylor bottle. I believe it's going to be a bottled and bond, but I'm guessing it's going to be probably a well-aged version. Got it.

Yeah. Okay. Well, there's been a few Taylor bottles that have reached BTAC pricing. So I don't see a reason why they couldn't elevate at least one release of Colonel Taylor to be up at that level. Yeah. And I don't know that we won't ever see them again. I think we'll, I see, I think we'll see them again. I, I just think it's, uh, it's gotta keep your eyes open and, and maybe, I don't know, go back to what was it? 2016 or so back when we could still find them. You might have to wait in line for it, but you could get it. Right. Right.

And then a couple of other things that some of the folks out there in roadie land will be seeing the wild turkey eight year, the new eight year 101 is starting to hit shelves. They just had a big event at wild turkey that some folks went to that I saw.

the May 1st event. So they released it at the distillery that day. I would assume Jimmy was out there signing bottles. Oh yeah.

He's always there signing bottles. I've already actually got a bottle of it. So we'll definitely have to crack it open and review it soon when you get back. Fantastic. And 49 bucks is a MSRP, I believe on that. So that's a great deal for an eight year wild turkey.

I agree with you on that. I think, uh, And that doesn't mean that it's exactly eight years. That means it's at least eight years. So there may be some older stocks in that.

And I'm sure they wanted that first release to be a real, a real tasty treat. So yeah, it'd be interesting to compare that to the 70th anniversary. Cause that was a big, we were both big fans of that. Um, our good friends at whiskey thief just, uh, released their 2025 version of their Mayday rye. You may, I think you've had a couple versions of that.

Yeah. Yeah.

It's available at the distillery. It's available at their Nulu tasting room in Louisville. And then I think it's running about 90 bucks. And get this, Jim, it's hazmat. So, it's 146 proof. And I believe it's a seven-year-old ride. 146 proof.

Now, where can you get it now?

You can get it, obviously, at the Whiskey Thief Distillery in Frankfurt or their Nulu Tasting Room in Louisville. And I believe they even said they ship to a few states now. So, some might be interested in some very high-proof rye. Might check their website out.

Well, their rice have always been delicious. They really make a great ride and I'm looking forward to that. So we can either go into Louisville or out to, uh, out towards Frankfurt and get it either place. That's, that's good news. Yep. I may or may not have a bottle already. Uh, well, you, you got an inside track with Walter there. I think you and Amzie can probably. work a few things out. Yeah.

It's usually calling one of our friends out there and ask them to set one aside for us is usually how it goes. It's good to know people. So you've got a really cool event, actually, while you're out in Colorado. Sounds like it's going to be a lot of fun.

Yeah. So on Thursday, I'm going to Laws Whiskey House in Denver. We've got an interview set up there. We're going to visit and take a tour and and record an episode with them, kind of looking forward to it. They've kind of established themselves as a pioneer out here in whiskey, and they've done some things in Bottle and Bond, and they're American Single Malts, and all the work that they've done really has been kind of- Yeah, they're picking full brands too, aren't they? Yep, exactly. So, and I know they sent some bottles in for us to review on a show. It just so happens that, uh, I'm going to be in town. So why not stop by and visit those guys? That'll be fun. Right. That should be fun. Now, have you been able to go anywhere else or? Not yet, but, um, uh, spoiler alert, second half pour for me is going to be a Colorado whiskey, uh, that I, that I had for the first time on Derby day. And it's really good. I'm enjoying it. And we've had that distillery on the show a few times. And I guess listeners may be able to guess who they are, but this is an expression that I haven't really covered before. So I kind of wish I had found better weather out here. You know, I really, I opened up my weather app before I came out and I saw 72 in Colorado Springs. I'm like, okay, 72. I'm going to pack shorts, t-shirts. You know, short sleeves, a couple of pair of jeans. I'll be good to go. I get out here and yeah, it was 72 midday, but it's forties in the evening and in the mornings. And today it rained all day. It was super cold. As far as it's going to be 10 degrees colder. There's still snow on the mountains. Yeah, I didn't plan very well. So my first trip out was not to a liquor store. It was to a clothing store.

Get some long pants, huh? That's right.

So you have another one picked for the second half?

Uh, yeah, I grabbed a few things, um, trying to like bring out a few things that folks can actually find out there in the wild and talk about them a little bit. This, uh, Penelope is really nice. Um, that's one of those really cool, um, stories where two guys wanted to start a brand and started buying MGP barrels back in the early days and had a lot of success. They came out with a rose cask, which is pretty unique, and they were doing some different finishes and things and even barrel strength. MGP just was kind of keeping tabs on them and ended up buying them back. So it's one of those kind of full circle stories. So, and those guys are really down to earth guys too. I've met Danny police. I'm kind of drawing a blank on the other guy, but.

Yeah, I was reading, I was reading some articles today. I get that industry news newsletter every day. And there's a few articles in there that really caught my attention. One had to do with. the rise of RTDs, ready to drink cocktails, basically. Well, we know they've been around for a long time, but they're really going nuts right now. They're really exploding, and it doesn't matter what the liquor is. Some of them are vodka, some of them are bourbon, some of them are wine-related and other things, but they're ready to drink. And they're really exploding on the markets right now. So these premixed cocktails are, Or kind of all the rage, especially with the younger crap. And I don't know, is there any that you've had that you've liked?

Um, they're not really my jam per se. Um, I'm not a seltzer guy at all. I find those, I don't know, very. Yeah. Just very kind of dull. It's not my kind of thing. If I'm going to drink water, I'll drink water, not sparkling water kind of thing.

Um, largest distillery in the United States right now is producing white claw. How about that? Yeah.

Is that crazy? That is crazy.

But, uh, no, there's a couple of them and I'll Jack Daniels had some really good cocktails out for a while. I liked those. They were really good. Um, but I'm, I'm the same way. It's kind of not my thing, but. I'm a firm believer in that there's variety for a reason, because there's different people and different profiles and people like different things. I just hope there's enough bourbon making it into the RTDs to help the bourbon industry. What do you think?

Yeah, I hope so. Like I said, I just stopped in a total wine recently and yeah, it's crazy to see, like I said, so many... NA's are huge too. NA beer, NA wine, and I've even seen NA bourbon, but like, you know, when I used to order beer for a store here in Frankfurt, you know, your NA options were maybe six or seven different types. And now it seems like. every brewery out there makes a bunch. There's like two big sections of it nowadays and the ready to drink, you see like the Delta 8 and the THC infused and things like that too. So yeah, it's really big. Liquor business is always evolving.

Yeah, I know we had two coolers out here for the Derby party on Saturday and one of them was alcoholic cooler and one of them was a non-alcoholic cooler and the non-alcoholic cooler had sodas and it also had NA beers. And at the end of the party, the non-alcoholic cooler was empty and the beer cooler was still full. Go figure. I mean, it's just, it's changing. It definitely is changing. But yeah, there was an article today in the industry, industry news about. the, uh, it's called you can drink your weed now. What to know about THC beverages. And you know, the farm bill, I think it was a 2018 bill was passed that said hemp derived THC less than 0.3% by volume or by weight, uh, is legal in all 50 states or at least sort of it's federally legal. So, And so they're putting it in drinks and it's becoming quite the craze. And I don't know that it's honestly, when you read through this article, it's very confusing. It talks about people are drinking it because it may be the more healthy alternative to alcohol, but I'm not so sure. Yeah.

It'd be interesting to see who comes out with the first Delta HTHC infused bourbon. You know there's always plans and somebody's going to do it.

I guess they probably will. Or whiskey alternative or whatever you want to call it. I just know when they came out with the vaping as an alternative to cigarettes, it was supposed to be a more safe alternative, but it's turned out it's not so safe after all. Is it? Yeah.

We're very good at like the, like figuring things out kind of like late and then in the aftermath, you know, seems like lead and gas, you know, everybody thought that was great.

Yeah. The fluorescent light bulbs until they started ending up in the, um, in the dumps with all the mercury.

Yeah. Right. It's just crazy.

All right. All right, Todd. Well, what do you say we take a quick break here? We grab our second pour. We'll rejoin the folks and have our second half. All right. Sounds great. All right. Stick around. We'll 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. Welcome back, roadies. This is Todd and I'm in Kentucky and Jim's in Colorado. So we are the great divide kind of. So we're just kind of Talking about all kinds of little different things. We talked about RTDs and his upcoming interview with the folks at Laws Whiskey House. Yeah, we're going to dive into a second pour here and keep on shooting the breeze about what's going on.

What do you got in your second glass, Jim? All right. So I have the Colorado rye whiskey finished in Aspen wood staves and maple syrup barrels. This is the 291 M. They got like, they like to use that big capital letter on these. Uh, this is the M and it's 122 proof. And, uh, yeah, it's, it's a definitely Colorado rye and it has a great sweet, uh, maple

syrup flavor to it. I was going to say, how does that aspirin, that Aspen maple blend work? Like minty sweetness?

Yeah. The funny thing about it is, is I think, yeah, definitely a maple sweetness, but I think it's real easy to identify a 291 whiskey. I don't have any problem doing it. It's one of those brands, one of those profiles that sticks out different enough that you can pick it out a lot like will it does, you know, just sort of real easy to determine what you're drinking. Yeah. And, uh, and no matter what they do to it, you know, even the white dog, it doesn't matter whatever they do. It just seems to, it seems to have that, uh, that profile that is uniquely theirs. And, uh, and you know, they're, they're still doing great. My son went down there a couple of weeks ago and, uh, and bottled with them. They have a. sort of, they bring in volunteers to bottle and label every now and then. It's kind of a fun thing to go do. And my understanding is things are going well for 291. They're doing really good. That's great.

And that's not the first distillery I've heard of doing, you know, having folks come help bottle and things. I know the Pursuit guys do that. Iron Root does that. And I'm sure there's a few others. Probably, probably makes for a fun day. They usually get lunch in the free bottle. So.

Yeah.

Yeah. I think it's hard work. I think it's busy work. You got to stay there for quite a while and do that. And I don't know at the end of the day, if the bottle and the pizza make it worth it or not, but I think the camaraderie does. Yeah. Yeah.

All right. Well, my second pour, I've got, I've got a classic. I've got the old Maryland, uh, rye, Pikesville straight rye made by heaven hill 110 proof. 51% rye and I forget the rest of it. I just know it's just barely a rye though. I thought it was always 115 proof. 110, huh? 110, yep. Six years old and retails for about 50 bucks, which is a great price.

That's always touted as being one of the better ryes on the shelf at a fair price.

Yep. So we, uh, We were lucky enough to go on another barrel pick recently. You want to let the folks know where we, where we went and what it was for?

Yeah, it was really great. We got to go to the James Pepper distillery in Lexington, Kentucky, and pick a barrel for bourbon on the banks.

Yeah.

We got to choose from three really great barrels. And, uh, I'm just surprised that, uh, at how good their whiskey really is. You know, the decanter bottle we had on the show a few months back was just out of this world good. And the barrels we tried were fantastic. Yeah. And very different from each other.

Yeah. They were all about four and a half, five years old.

Yeah.

And we chose a bourbon. And it came down to kind of two, And it was kind of like, what would the, what would the people want? Cause I think you and I kind of really liked one a little more, but we also liked the other one because we felt like it was more. word I'm looking for. I guess like the masses would probably like it more. A little more easy drinking. It had a great, I mean, the barrel one had the best nose, I thought. It did. Yeah. It had this like vanilla icing, cake batter, just really nice. But yeah, it was a fun experience. I highly recommend going there and taking that tour. You know, the pepper distillery goes way back. You even goes beyond even further if you go back to Oscar Pepper, which Oscar Pepper was basically, he's the one that kind of got Dr. James C. Crowe started in the business when Dr. Crowe came over here from Scotland.

Yeah, the history goes way, way back. And one of the nice things about going to that distillery is their historical tour they do. They talk a lot about the history of the distillery and the family and the big part that James E. Pepper's wife played in the business.

Yeah, yeah.

It's very interesting. I love hearing those stories. And whether or not some of that lore is true or not or whether it holds true today, You know, we can always ask Drew. He'll let us know. But it's fun to hear. It's fun to talk about. And it's always great to have a little bit of a history lesson before you drink the whiskey. It just makes you settle in a little bit at the distillery and feel like you're in the midst of, you know, history and drinking things that, you know, have a bit of throwback to the past. It's always fun.

But we did try a rye there that was just out of this world. Yeah, that's, I believe it was like seven, almost eight and yes. Fantastic.

Wow. Yeah. And I've, I'll be honest, I've never been a huge fan of their 1776 rye, but it turns into something just glorious when it hits six or seven years. Yeah.

But yeah, we had a lot of fun with their crew that was there that day. It was myself, you, AMSE was a part of it. Rene, who is the president of the Bourbon on the Banks board now and used to be in the Frankfurt Bourbon Society board. And let's see, oh, and Bo coming in. Yep. Yep. Oh, and David Samlin from the House of Commons, another name folks might recognize, but we had a great time. You kind of had to get out of there because it was kind of getting a little late in the day, but we ended up going to Goodfellas Pizza there, next door, of course. Yeah, that's a great place for if you, you know, everyone rushes to Bardstown or Whiskey Row in Louisville, but I think there's There's a lot going on that little area of Lexington. We actually walked over to where RD-1 used to be, which if folks remember, Barry Brindiger has been on the show from RD-1 Spirits. Well, they've moved into a bigger and better place. Macaulay mitten new he's moving over into the the rd one place so dark arts is moving over there so we went over there and check that place out and they were they were in there working but i mean we try to stay away but it's gonna be really neat as you can expect my colleagues call is got some very interesting tastes and things so the decor in there what was i mean it was it's gonna be something.

Yeah. Yeah. And, uh, he's, uh, he snapped up Sarah Algram as well. So she's moving over. Yup. Yeah. That's an interesting turn of events. I was really surprised to hear that, but good, good for McCauley to get her on, get her in there and, uh, and, and working at the distillery. I think she'll be a good addition.

Let's see. And then I think some of our roadies may have noticed that speaking of Bo Cumberland, he's the man behind the Frankfurt Bourbon documentary. So I know not all of you guys are local out there, but if some of you are in the area, I highly recommend you guys come to the event on Friday, June 13th. It starts at 530 and it's at the Foundry in Frankfurt, Kentucky. The documentary lasts about an hour and seven minutes, I believe, give or take, and it's going to kick off Bourbon Week in Frankfurt that week. And I think they're even having the very first downtown concert that evening as well. So, it's going to be a really cool night. Rather than charge for tickets for the documentary, the plan is to just kind of have like take up donations and this will all be going to Frankfurt flood victims, which is really cool.

And who's the narrator for that documentary?

That would be me. I'm the Morgan Freeman. I'm the Morgan Freeman. Yeah.

I got to preview the documentary and I have to say, Todd, you definitely found your calling there. You're a great narrator. I just got to have words to read. Yeah. You did a great job. I mean, your voice is, well, it's great on the podcast, obviously, but I think it's even better on television. If you want to call it TV or in movies or whatever it is in the documentary, you do a great job.

But I'm not sure what the plan is afterwards. I mean, you know, he, he has it on YouTube, but it's kind of hidden behind the veil right now. So if, um, he allows it once it's, you know, we're not sure where, where we're going with this next. So hopefully we can let the, the, the roadies out there know when it's available. Cause it's, it's a really good watch. I think, I mean, obviously. I'm very proud of my town and I know most of these people are on the show, so it's kind of cool to see Frankfurt jump in the limelight a little bit. And I think Bo did a, he's got a really good eye for it. I know you've even talked to him about maybe like doing something kind of for some folks interested in doing like a Shelbyville distillery history, right?

At least Shelbyville as a whole. Shelbyville has a kind of a limited distillery history, but it has a rich, deep Kentucky history. There's a lot there, you know, Lewis and Clark and things related. So there was a, I did find out there was a Shannon distillery in Shelbyville back in the early 1800s. So I'm going to try and research that a little bit. Oh, that's interesting. Yeah, really is. I was surprised to find that out. I was like, oh my goodness, it's, it's, uh, I don't know that it would be family or not, but it's certainly the same last name. So something to check out for sure. You know, whenever you dig into this stuff, sometimes you find things out. We've had a lot of distilleries pop up from people that didn't realize that they had a great grandfather or a grandfather or a great, great grandfather that was in distilling, you know, you just never know. So.

And we're hoping to have Bo on the show soon. Probably, I don't know if we'll try to have him on before it shows or after it shows. But he's a great guy. I highly recommend. If anybody's a big YouTube fan, he does a lot of really short, quick interviews and like mini docs, I guess, on his YouTube page. So it's like my journey through the American spirits or something like that. But I highly recommend you subscribe and check his stuff out. He's quite a talent. The Ken Burns of Frankfurt is what I started calling him now.

There you go. There you go. He definitely has a great talent for that. No doubt about it. All right. Well, I'll tell you what this maple 291 is sort of settling in. I've got this nice big chest hug and under 22 proof is, uh, is good. So Todd, it's only a nine 30 for me, but it's, it's 1130 for you. It's getting late to be drinking bourbon on a, on a work night, isn't it? It is. It is. Um, so.

But yeah, this was kind of like the best time. It's been a busy day. My son had a makeup soccer game tonight and it's still very, it's rained all day yesterday. So it was pretty muddy and, but they came out victorious. So yeah, it's been a full day. This was probably about the best time for me to record today.

All right. Well, what else do you have in your arsenal there? Have you got another drink to pull out or is that it for the night? I think I'm probably pretty good. Pikesville rye for the finish. Yeah. I've got about a half a bottle of that Pikesville rye left on my bar and I haven't visited the bottle in a while, but I think it's about time I do. I've always liked it. I always thought it was a great Kentucky rye.

I don't know why I always had it in my head. It was 115 proof. I got really got turned on to this with the time. I think I've talked about it when Jason interviewed Bernie Lubbers. The time we did that was at the Evan Williams experience in the Speakeasy. And we went through that. It was, they were trying to really tout the rye. So what's the, what's the lower proof versions? There's the Elijah Craig rye. They're all the same mash bill. And then the, is it Rittenhouse? Yeah. That's, yeah. So I'll say Mash Bill, but he was talking about how each of them came from different floors and then obviously you had different poop points and ages on those. But yeah, that Pikesville is a good easy sipping rye.

So what are some big bottles that people are trying to lay their hands on right now? Not unicorns that people are normally looking for, but recent releases.

Um, right now, obviously the wild Turkey eight years, the hot ticket. Um, another big thing right now is they're called buff Turkey picks. And what those are are when wild turkeys, um, new still went in, they had contracted Buffalo trace to do their mash bill a little bit. So. Buffalo Trace did that and then those barrels were housed at Wild Turkey. But I guess Wild Turkey wasn't, I don't know if they weren't fond of them or just like, eh, we don't really need them. So now they are popping up. I guess they went through a broker or something like that and these are all like 15, 16 year old barrels. And yeah, so everybody's calling them buff turkey and you talk about a hot ticket. Yeah. River Roots is a brand that probably not too many folks have heard of. Actually, McCauley got some for Dark Arts. Augusta Distilling, I actually did a pick with Jason and we chose two barrels of that, which actually I should be getting those bottles in probably this week or next. But yeah, these all sell typically for about 250 to 300 a bottle, but secondary prices, I'm starting to see them get up over a thousand bucks. Wow. Yeah. But I mean, it's a rarity. I mean, you don't often see, you know, you heard about when like Heaven Hill caught fire, like, A lot of the stories pitched in and sent barrels for Heaven Hill to use and things like that, but it's pretty rare for another story to distill someone else's match bill and then give them the barrels. And then they're like, well, I don't think we really want these barrels. So, but yes, we'll have to try those on a show. Cause we, I think we got really lucky. We got, we got one that's. I'd put up there with just about anything else I've ever had in my life. It's really good. The other one was solid, but it's like George T. Staggish. I look forward to that. I think it's 137.4 proof too. Fantastic. Yep. Uh, so what else is hot? Um, rare character that there, uh, there are another, like they do a lot of single barrels and small batches. Uh, I know, I think I forget the guy behind that, but he and, um, McCauley shared a space. So I'm not sure if he's going to keep that space since McCauley's moving or maybe they'll just keep their barrels over there or something. Um, I just saw something where benchmark is actually going to come out with a rye. It's going to be a hunter-proof rye, straight rye. Oh, that sounds good.

Yeah. I know Hello Good and Whiskey friends just reviewed a rye and for the life of me, I can't remember which one it was, but they said it was to die for. So I hate to mention it and not know the name of it, but. I thought you might know that's why I said it. I thought, well, title piping, he'll know what it was.

I try to watch them as much as I can, but sometimes I can't even find time for that too. You know, but, um, and then I also, I saw Diane strong. I meant to ask her about how many tickets were left, but I forgot. Um, but I did see the Kentucky burps festival has sold out of pretty much everything. I'm not even sure you could get in the parking lot now.

So even though the market's a little soft, enthusiasm is still strong, at least for the events. And I think that's a great sign. That's really good. It was sad to hear about our friends at Garrett County distilling and the fact that they were not able to continue. Uh, in, in the business.

Yeah, they were, uh, they were a great bunch of guys. Um, and I was really, you know, really impressed what they, what they had. And then we even got to try some of their, it was about a year old distillate and it was pretty tasty.

Yeah.

So, but, um, hope, I mean, I saw where there were some layoffs at Belle Meade too, which that's a constellation brand now too. So, um, There might be a few more things. I mean, I think when it was going really well, that's what happened. You need more people to make more barrels and make, you know, all that kind of stuff. So now it's slowing down. Well, sadly, a few people, I guess, just got to get let go because they're just not needed like they were there for a while.

A little bit of a glut. I mean, a little bit of a glut. I mean, feast or famine, of course it happens, but things will level out. Things will become normalized again. You know, tequila is hot right now. RTDs are hot. CBD infused drinks are a little bit hot, but that doesn't mean that bourbon is not hot. The last 10 years have created a whole new generation of bourbon lovers. They really do like bourbon and they're excited about it and they love it. Along with that came a lot of collectors and flippers and other people like that. And maybe they're backing off the market now, but that doesn't mean that people that love bourbon aren't still enthusiastic about it. And when you see bourbon on the bank selling out and when you see the Kentucky Bourbon Festival selling out, Uh, and you still see that there's a strong interest in the core brands. I think you understand that the market is still strong. It's just that there's a little bit too much production and needs to back off a little bit. That's all. Yeah, sure. I think, I think we're fine.

It'll all be good. You go to out to whiskey thief and there's a heck some, there's some, they have music and there's big crowds. So I mean, I think you keep your locals happy and you bring in some suburban tourism and yeah, try not to conquer the world.

All right. Well, Todd, it's been fun. It's been great to just chit chat with you. Had to head out of town. We're a bit far apart, but that's all right. We get to knock out an episode and talk to our listeners and try a few, few whiskies. I really enjoyed this M. I'm not always really big on Super sweet like maple syrup finish kind of things, but I thought this was a great whiskey. Definitely two 91, uh, the profile shine through that maple finish. So that was nice to, nice to try. And hopefully I can get over there during my visit here. I'm out for a full nine days. So let's see.

Okay.

Yeah. All right. Well, thank you for jumping on late.

I appreciate it. And no problem. It's good to talk to you and hope you have a great, great little trip.

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, all those things. Every single week, Todd and I get together. We'll sit down with a few pores and record a podcast. Sometimes it's with a guest and sometimes it's just Todd and I. It's always fun. We're always drinking whiskey, always having a few laughs. You should join us every single week. And the best way not to miss out is to go to the top of that app you're on, hit that subscribe button. That way you will not miss a single episode when it comes out. You'll get that notification and you can check in and hang out with us as we sip on some good pores. Maybe you're cutting grass or doing whatever around the house. 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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