448. High Proof and Higher Spirits: Four Whiskeys, One Wild Ride

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. All right. Listeners and long time roadies. Welcome back to another episode of the Bourbon road. Todd and I are hanging out today. We are in the Bourbon road bar in Simpsonville, Kentucky. We've been spending a lot of time in Frankfurt lately. Yeah. It's good to be back here. Good to be back. Yeah. We've got a number of samples we're going to go through tonight. Todd's put together a lineup and, uh, We're just going to kind of take it easy tonight and review, what have we got?

Four whiskeys.

Four whiskeys. Four whiskeys we're going to have tonight. And I guess we've got two bourbons in the first half and two ryes in the second half. And there's one big kicker at the end. A very big kicker.

That's a giant mule there.

I don't think we've ever had a whisky at that level on the show before.

not to spoil, but I know that that will be the highest proof thing I've ever tried. Yeah. Unless there was some sort of, you know, some of the moonshine that may have getting passed around here in Kentucky that you've tried.

Yeah, but normally moonshine is down around a hundred proof. It just always is. It's always in that 100 to 110 range. Well, I'm talking those like, like seriously in the Mason jars and you know, like an X on it, you know. I've had a few of those. We're going to kick back here today. We're going to have a good time. We've got a lot coming up. It's nice to get a chance to sort of regroup and just have you and I sit down with a couple of pours. We've got a lot of barrel picks we're going on. You've got a lot of roadies coming into town.

Roadies, yeah, Friends, the debut of the Frankfurt documentary is coming up. There's a lot going on.

It's a busy time of year, but lots of fun. And this is going to be a great show, though. We're going to have a good time. And I haven't had three of these four, so.

I am over four. So yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. I've not tried any of these four, but I'm very excited. So. All right. Well, let's get started. All right. Our first one. is from our friends and podcast enemies. I'm just kidding. The Pursuit United guys, this is Kenny Coleman and Ryan Cecil. This is their Melwood bottled and bond bourbon. This came in a 375 milliliter, only runs 29.99 and it's a hundred proof obviously being a bottled and bond. So the cool thing with this is, Kenny did some digging when they moved in their spot where their Kind of their place where you do the barrel picks and their gift shop is and all that stuff. He did some deep diving and right in that area was where the Melwood distillery resided back in the late 1800s. So with that, they decided to come out with these kind of special pint bottles. And it's a really unique package. I think it's got like the faux tack strip on it. And it just kind of looks like something you might have seen way, way back when. But yeah, they're honoring George W. Swearingen, which any Deadwood fans, I believe. Yeah, Swearingen. Yeah. Obviously, I think one was, well, he was probably a real person too. But yeah, I thought that was kind of interesting. Who opened that distillery in 1865 and they just wanted to to honor that with a Baldwin-Bond signifying a commitment to exceptional quality and authenticity set forth by Rudolf Baucke, the president of the Millwood Distillery, who was a key figure also along with E.H. Taylor in the Baldwin-Bond Act of 1897. So yeah, cool stuff.

Yeah. I mean the, the Melwood, Melwood Avenue, which is a fairly well-known street in, in Louisville. Uh, if you've ever been into a town that has this road that runs down between a big red brick manufacturing buildings for like a mile on both sides, you bring them down to like an old town like that, that has the big manufacturing.

Oh yeah. I think Owensboro, Kentucky is like that distillery area and some other stuff around there.

It's really interesting. So none of those buildings exist anymore, but that was Melwood Avenue. Melwood Avenue was the Melwood distillery. It was huge. There's some details on that in Brian Hart's book, but pretty, pretty cool. Big, big place. Yeah.

They made a lot of whiskey there. Yeah. So yeah, $29.99, 100 proof, and they source from different Kentucky distilleries. This is obviously a Kentucky distillery. I'm not sure if they're under an NDA for this one. Sometimes they are, sometimes they aren't. They are very forthcoming on most of their stuff, so they will tell you.

If they can, they'll let you know. That's true.

And we're talking about the Old Spot. They are getting ready to open something down on Whiskey Row. And I want to say probably at the end of June is about when that It's going to open up, they're going to have a podcast studio and there's a few air and BNBs there. I know some of our roadies actually do some, uh, some, uh, ambassadoring for them. They kind of grab a boots to the grant, uh, boots to the ground kind of ambassadors. So they send bottles to people out there and they have those people like do tastings and things. So cheers to them. Let's check this out. All right. Oh, I love it.

Getting some nice apple notes. It does. It does have an apple pie. Apple pie with a little bit on the like Jolly Rancher apple side too. Yeah. A little bit of that bubble gum note. But just a hint of floral thing going on there too. It's fruity and floral and it's got a really nice, it almost, it almost an initial impression is almost like a brandy note. Okay. But, but not, not like red apple, right? This is more of a, like a head of a Jolly Rancher or a green apple. All right. Let's taste it. Cheers. Oh, it's really sweet on the palate. Oh yeah. Nice and balanced everywhere all at once. Nice impression. So I came off a warming up on a, maybe not a wise thing to do. I warmed up on like 115 proof ride before the show. That's okay. You'll manage. I'll manage. This is really good. So is this, is this Ryan's baby more than it is?

I think Ryan does a lot of the blending and barrel picking and things like that. I mean, I'm sure Kenny will tell us, we're actually hoping to get up with them in August and chat with them. I think we are doing a bourbon on the banks barrel pick through them soon. So that should be a lot of fun. This is a really good whiskey. I like it. I do too. I think that apple pie thing I was talking about kind of carries over. There's a nice burst of vanilla buttercream frosting type thing.

Yeah. It has a nice, um, nice gentle hug associated with it. Um, it drinks right at its proof. I think maybe a little light, but you think it's a little light.

See, I get a little spice in the, but it sits there really nicely.

Has a nice finish. Does a little bit of oak coming out at the end. Yeah, I would say the Melwood is a nice, well-balanced bourbon. It has, like you mentioned, it's got the apple notes, a little bit of bubble gum up front. This was on the nose, but the apple came across on the palate as well. Some caramel going on. Yep. It does have a little bit of a floral aspect to it. A little bit of a bite. I think that's what you're talking about, just on the back side. A little spicy, just a little. But that's, yeah, that's really good. $29 for a 375, that puts it at about 60 bucks for a 750.

Yeah, I think that's- That's one, these guys, their price points are really nice. And I recommend if you see their Pursuit Uniteds out there to give those a whirl. Those are really solid blends that Ryan puts together.

Now this is available on the shelf and in the gift shop?

I forgot to kind of look at that part, but I know you can get it at the gift shop. And I want to say, I feel like you might be able to get it through, you know, they're good friends with Blake Ryber there at Sillbox, of course. So there may be some of those bottles available. I'm not sure the distro on this, but.

Oh, it sits real nice at the end. I think this would be great with a cigar. We'll have to check with Ray Claussen. He's one of the ambassadors for, for these guys. He's probably had a cigar with it already. It's actually getting a little sweeter for me as I keep sipping. That's just nice. It is sweet. It is a sweet bourbon. Um, I got that initial impression as well, but I'm really loving the finish on this. The hugs settling in. It's, it's got a nice finish.

That's a really good bottle of wine.

Yeah. I'd say they, uh, they did very well with this. I'd agree. It's a good start to the day. I think so. Absolutely. And, uh, we're moving onto another one, but, uh, any interesting news you've run across lately?

So a few things. The President's Choice, which is put out by Old Forrester, the newest rendition of that will be coming out soon. It's one of those that's going to be hard to find. That's the way of the world these days. But they are also, for the first time, putting out a President's Choice rye. which should be interesting. So some of those sweet old Forester rise, you know that? Yeah. Yeah. So that's pretty exciting. I've only had it like a pour of one of those. I feel like it's. Well, those you just don't see very often. I know it's going to be they're having like a special event there at Old Forester that's going to have like a three course meal and you can buy a bottle of each and do a deep dive into the price or anything like that.

Now, Old Forester's rye mash bill is like a sixty five percent. Right. Is it?

I thought it was. OK. 65 and then 35.

Yeah, something like a 65, 35 or 65, 30 and five or whatever it is, but yeah. Um, I do know that it's a Kentucky ride, but it's, uh, it sits closer in a 60% range. Okay.

But that's one of the things I've seen lately that, uh, is coming out. And then we got some news from our good friends at Wyoming whiskey. They are getting ready to launch the Buffalo Bill Cody. You know, they're, they're, uh, They'd love to give shout outs to their national parks there and to some of like, you know, some of those wild west heroes and people of lore. And it is a six-year-old bourbon and it's composed of 26 barrels. All the grains are from Wyoming as well. And it's going to be, I guess, 97 proof with a retail price of about $79.99. Okay, cool. We may be getting a sample of that. She was going to check on that. We never turned down a sample and I always ask. So hopefully we'll get to give that a whirl and give the folks a better, a little better impression. I know that's one of those, it seems like it's just kind of in Wyoming. So any of the roadies out there in the Wyoming area, right? You know, try it and let us know how it is on the, on the roadies page.

They're not the first ones to come out with like a, a whiskey or a bourbon named after a wild bill. I think Mississippi river distilling came out with Cody road, Cody road. Okay. I think Buffalo bill or bill Cody or whatever his name was. Um, uh, he was from, uh, the clear Iowa, which is where the pickers are at, you know, those guys.

That's funny.

Interesting. Yeah. But I guess, uh, a lot of that, you know, whole West Wild West Northern Wild West scene out there, right?

Yeah. I didn't know he was a, like, he started kind of like as a pony express rider. I was kind of where he, I guess, got into the West and then progressed to becoming the legend he is today. Yeah. So, so far we've tied in swear engine and Buffalo Bill Cody.

Well, I would say our history is likely flawed. So we're probably going to hear from roadies on this.

Come on guys. That's right. So that's another one to keep your eye out on. And I'll pop in a few more here as we continue to test.

Well, we have another whiskey that we're going to sort of drift into now. And this one is also from our friends at Pursuit.

So this is Derby Town. This is their seven-year barrel-proof Kentucky bourbon. It is a revival of a brand once owned by General Distillers Corp., which took over Millwood Distilling after Prohibition. So they were one of those groups that kind of, after Prohibition, it seems like all these big groups just started buying them all up and probably

Cause a lot of the people that owned the distilleries after prohibition had basically lost everything in the process. Yeah.

So you had these big corporations coming in and just saying, let's start this equipment. Let's find all the equipment, maybe use it. Maybe use just the Rick houses. You know, you got national stillers come out, I think kind of came in the market there. But, um, so this one's one 22.8 proof and, uh, yeah, 49 99. for a 375 milliliter bottle.

Okay. All right.

And I believe this one might be rabbit hole. I think I want to, you know. Okay.

Now, you know, so this, these, if these are only going to be in 375s, they kind of remind me of like the, uh, the Baron series out of, uh, wild Turkey, like the WB saffle.

Yes. The pints. Yeah.

Which they're, they're typically, you can find them on the shelves, but they're limited. You definitely get them in the in the bottle shop. There's actually a new WB saffle.

They just re-released it. The bottle's a little different. It's less rounded. And I actually got to try that. And wow. I've always been a huge fan. I think my saffle was the best of the three.

But the new saffle might even be better than the first one. Yeah. Oh, wow. That would be something else. Yes. Because the original release of the saffle was just out of this world. Yes. All right. So this is the Derby town.

Derby town. Yes. Another 22. Again, kind of a classy old look. It looks really neat.

Okay.

This is a little, little darker on the nose.

Definitely more concentrated. I think you'd like to say fruit cake. Yeah. Oh yeah. Or spice cake. A little bit of molasses, like molasses spice cake. Right. Cause it is dark. Yeah. It's got a nice color to it. Nice nose. A little bit of a spice to it. Cheers. Cheers. Oh, very warm and buttery. Oh, that's really nice.

That is nice.

It has a lot more Oak on it than the last one.

Uh huh. Three years will do that to you, I guess. Yeah.

It's a really good whiskey. This came out of rabbit hole. Huh?

I think you think, I think you're not sure. You think you knew what the first one was too.

I think the first one may be Bardstown. Okay.

You know, I know they source from there and they will tell you that.

So it kind of had a Bardstowny vibe maybe. Well, it's fun to try and guess. You don't know if you're right or not, but it's always fun to try. I really like this too. Ryan and Kenny. Yeah, that's good. You guys are killing it. These are two great little bottles. Yes.

Now I do know this is probably like, I didn't really look too close at the bottle, but I feel like this is probably may have a batch one or something or some sort of batch code on it. So I think from what I read, future releases will be, the proofs will vary, I guess, kind of thing.

Oily, buttery, silky, very warming. It's like drinking the elixir of life.

It's so good. This is really good. The elixir of life, wow. Can live to a hundred just drinking this. Is that what you're saying? Yeah.

I think, I think a glass of this every evening and you're set. This is good. This is really good stuff. Well, I'm not going to go overboard on it, but I mean, it, it is a, uh, it's a quality, um, seven year old bourbon. Yeah. Quality seven year old bourbon, 122 prove. It's got great flavor. Both of these have been well balanced and the texture on this one just takes it over the top for me. Yes.

Wow. And again, that finish it's, it's not dispersing. It just sits there. Yeah. Well done guys. Well done.

Yeah. I've had a whiskey that this reminds me of, but I can't put my finger on it.

I've had something with this kind of the same notes going on the same notes, the same texture, the same, but I just can't, I can't quite put my finger on it.

It may have been a 15 star. Okay. Really good stuff.

Yeah. So there's a lot of like we're we'll be honest, it'll probably be edited a little bit, but there's we're having some nice like. quiet times where we're just kind of sitting here enjoying it.

Yeah.

I normally try to take those out because people don't want to sit in silence.

They're like, where'd they go? Where'd they go? Did something wrong with my radio? Sometimes it just happens.

You get kind of silent and enjoy the moment. Yeah. And that's one of these times.

Yeah. In fact, sometimes when I'm editing, I kind of wonder if I take out too much, if it won't sound funny because I try to not give people too much silence because it just You kind of wonder if your phone stopped or if, you know, if, I don't know.

Anyway, I think anything over five seconds, people are like, wait, what happened?

Maybe I don't know what to ask the folks, but good start. Good start. So when is, when is the pick there at the pursuit? I believe it's scheduled for August 6th. Just a reminder to our listeners, Todd and I have been involved with the Frankfurt Bourbon Society and with Bourbon on the Banks to do a series of about 10 picks, I guess. 10 picks this year. 10 picks, I believe. These barrels that we're assisting on and helping to pick, will be available at Urban on the Banks from the distilleries themselves.

Right. They'll be at those tables. I'm sure if they don't have that particular license, they usually get capital sellers to which is one of our local stores, they kind of set up their own rather large area of just all kinds of bourbons that they're selling.

But these were all, well, not all, there's one Georgia, right?

Yes, Short Barrel out of Georgia. I think they'll probably be mailing some samples to AMSE at some sort. Okay.

Yeah. Well, anyway, so we'll, I don't know, we'll be going, you're definitely going to the pursuit. Yes, we are. Yes. And actually you are getting ready to go to an Angels Embi pick, which should be really interesting.

And one of our roadies, one of our very lucky roadies.

That's right.

We drew a name. So Gary Rayborn, right? Okay.

Yeah. So I have not reached out to him yet, but hopefully, Amzie has. I believe he was in the process. OK, good deal. So we look forward to hanging out with him on what will be this upcoming Friday at Angels Envy in downtown Louisville. It's going to be fun.

And keep following the Roadies page, because I believe Amzie said we'll do a couple more. We'll give away a couple other picks. Who knows? Maybe the pursuit one might be one. Who knows?

A lot of pics left, so it should be fun. All right. Well, I am pleasantly surprised with both of these. If you can't tell which one's kind of, I'm leaning towards, I'm just kind of leaning towards this one. But I think like it's usually the spoiler of the proof, right? I mean, when you go with a hundred to 122, it's kind of unfair. A little unfair. Yes. It's like, it's like two guys getting a ring to box. One of them weighs a hundred pounds. The other one was 225. Who are you going to bet on? Well,

David did beat Goliath. That's true, that's true. But I don't know, Goliath's pretty good this time.

That's some good whiskey. Yeah, these guys have some mad skills. They definitely do. Not only do they have a great podcast and a great following and they've served the industry for many, many years, but they make some really, really good whiskeys. Yeah. They do a fantastic job.

And it's a really, it's a really fun experience to go there and do that bottle your own type thing. There was a, when they kind of first opened, we took, I guess there was about 13 or 14 of us in the Bourbon Society. We went up there and did that and had a great time.

Well, I haven't been to their facility yet. I'm looking forward to it. One of these days, maybe on the pick, maybe not. I don't know. I can't, I'm going to go do two of them in Western Kentucky too. So I don't know if I can do many more. I'm kind of at my limit. I think it's a marathon. It is a marathon. Well, Todd, I think I want to sip on this going into the half. I do too. All right. Well folks, you stick around. We've got the two more great whiskeys coming up in the second half. Uh, we'll, we'll kind of wrap up our thoughts on these when we get back and, uh, then we'll adventure into these next two and Todd's got some more tidbits and news for us as well. So 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, welcome back listeners. We just went through a couple of great expressions from the Pursuit United guys. This is their kind of historic pints, if you will. We had the Millwood Bottle and Vine, which is a four-year-old, hunter proof, $29.99. And that was followed up by the Derby Town, which is a seven-year-old, it's about $122.8 proof. And yeah, just- Both of them, great. Great start to this review show. But now we are going, we're going to step over into the dark side. Some might say if you're a Star Wars fan, this is the rye side, which I know. Yeah.

It's one of my favorites.

I like to play on the dark side. You're on the dark side. You're like a Darth Vader. So without further ado, this is the 15 stars reserve fine aged rye. Our good friends, Ricky and Rick Johnson sent us this bottle. It is a blend of Kentucky, Tennessee and Indiana rise, age 14, 13, nine and eight. So that makes it, you know, if you do your bourbon math, you go to that lowest number and makes it an eight year basically. And it is 95 proof and MSRP on this is the little jump. So 139.99. Okay.

So they have, they have another ride, which is called their first West, which is kind of their, That's their flagship ride, right? I mean, that's kind of the one. I believe so. Yeah.

It's solid solid. I want to say, did it run in them a little over 100 proof, like one Oh five. Yeah, I think so without, without going over there and getting in your shelves. Yeah. And this is a, I'm getting like lemon bar and mint. Yeah.

This is a, um, it's, it's not first West. You could, I mean, it's not the first West, right?

There's like a little older leather type thing.

Yeah. And it doesn't come across like super like high right mash bill to me, but, but three different States and three different States, but the higher they get in age, the more rice sort of drift away from that. They go into more of the candy notes and everything. So has a great nose.

It does have a great nose. There's a little bit of that bubble gum too. Oh yeah. Just a little bit minty bubble gum.

Yeah. It has this nice innate sweetness to it. Um, it's not overpowering. It's not exactly candy like, but it's, um, it definitely has left like the youthful rise stage. This is definitely into the more mature rise stage.

Little chocolate. You can get a little chocolate on there.

Yeah. It's a little bit. Yeah. All right. I'm going to taste it. Same. Cheers. Cheers. Oh yeah. Oh yeah. There's that, there's that little bit of a candy note to it. A little sweeter. Kind of reminds me a little bit of like a Ludens. Remember the Ludens cough drops?

Yeah.

Like cherry or you really doesn't have a big cherry note on it, but it has like the honey, like the, like the more of the honey cough drop. Definitely honey. Yeah.

And I'm also getting like, like a peachy apricot thing going on too, which is really nice and unexpected. So this is sits right at 95 proof. You said 95 exactly. Yes.

Okay. This is a, this is a well-proofed whiskey. I think it really drinks nicely at this, at this, at this proof. Um, you can tell that it has, um, you know, a combination of more mature rise to it.

Yes. Still very viscous. I'm sure they had, they, I feel like maybe they didn't prove it down too much though. I don't know. Just get that vibe. It's just so viscous.

Yeah. You could definitely nail this as a rye, but it's not like this. Uh, it's not like the, it's not like Kentucky owl kind of rye. You know, it's, if this is a little bit more, uh, more of a caramel, a finish is like, just like mint and oak though. Yeah.

So it does. Yeah. Yeah. Mint and oak, maybe a little leather. That's really good. We are lucky fellas. I know these are great whiskies. I mean, I grabbed the, you know, I'd like to support the pursuit guys. I grabbed those on my own, but Rick and Ricky, uh, we love you. Thank you.

Yeah. They, they are really good about making sure they get their whiskies in the hands of people. I mean, they're not ashamed to have everybody try their whiskey and report on it. And they shouldn't be, because they have great stuff.

They're a little pricey, not gonna lie, but I think they're one of those like hidden gems that, you know, you don't see them much. You know, I have friends in the YouTube arena, if you will, and you don't hear much about these guys. And I'm like, you guys need to like send some samples to like these people and these people, but they kind of keep it.

Yeah. I mean, they're not, they have a reasonable distribution, but it's kind of, it's tight. Right.

I mean, I just don't think they're getting their due because they put out some great products.

Yeah, they do. They do. Well, I mean, I think we should send a few bottles to our friends. Let them, let them, let them try them out on air.

Right. Right. I've actually. in plans to do that with my hello again whiskey friends. I was going to send them some hidden gems that they've never tried or talked about. So, and then of course some of our roadies, we'll probably get some samples of these because we do like to be hooking up with Scott and Jason here shortly. Yes, they're coming in. this week to do a, they're doing a Buffalo trace pick. And when I say Buffalo trace pick, that is what they're picking, an actual Buffalo trace. So I think they have about seven, you know, kind of let some Patreons that are in that area to kind of know. And sometimes there's great interest, they'll kind of draw names out of a hat, but So yes, I'm supposed to meet them. I'm gonna have a little dinner and hopefully a little pause after we're gonna go to the Ashbrook Hotel, which used to be E.H. Taylor's home back in the day. You can't, you can't not touch bourbon when you come to Frankfurt. That's right. Everywhere you can look, it's just bourbon. It just rolls through the gutters.

All right. Well, tell us what else is going on in the world of whiskey here. You've got some more news for us, don't you Todd? I do indeed.

So our very good friends from Los Lantern, they are coming out with their summer collection estate distilleries. And by that. it's going to feature distilleries that everything's, you know, grown in-house. So some of those options will be a Frey Ranch, Nevada straight bourbon. You know, it's funny, I thought you were going to say Frey Ranch. I was going to say that was definitely going to be one. They also have a Frey Ranch, Nevada straight rye, Corbin Cash, California straight rye, which Jason and them just did a pick with those guys. And if you see their rye out there, like a six or seven year old pick, do yourself a favor, try to grab a pour of it or grab it because they are sneaky good. They've just kind of like come out of nowhere. A far North, which is Minnesota straight rye. a Frey Ranch Tavada Straight Wheat Whiskey, and then Whiskey Acres, which you and I got kind of surprised when we had a Whiskey Acres bottled in bond, I think with Blind Barrels recently. So that's an Illinois Straight Bourbon. Good stuff. And hopefully we'll be getting some samples of those. And those are going to be, I think, If I recall correctly, anywhere from summer single barrels to kind of a blend of some barrels. So like anywhere from probably 150 bottles available to 400, 500 bottles available through Sealbox and actually straight from Lost Liner. But we love those guys. I really enjoyed talking to them. I think you were on vacation or something like that, but it was a great time and I've become a big fan of what they're doing. I love craft stuff, so I'd love that they're just shining the light on some of the lesser knowns. Good stuff. Yeah.

No doubt about it. Wow. So loving that ride we just had. Really good. But I'm out. I finished it off.

I was going to say, when I got this bottle, I was like, I might take a couple of ounces home with me, but that one needs to be on your shelf, I think. Oh, you're going to leave it with me? Yeah.

Oh, thank you, Todd. That's so sweet.

Well, that way it's there to be like when we, you know.

Yeah. When you came in today, I was drinking a rye from, uh, Mattingly. Yeah.

So one other thing, our good friend, McCauley Minton, his, uh, I actually got to go, our bourbon society got to go up there for a private. kind of like walk into their new place, which oddly enough was at the RD1 distillery, or their tasting room, their previous location. And we got to kind of check it out and got to sample some really unique stuff. I walked away with two more bottles that I probably don't need, but they were so good. One was like a 13-year double-oaked rye. Oh, wow. I know, that just made your ears perk up. I think they are getting ready end of June, June 28th. They're going to have a kind of a ribbon cutting grand opening and we've been invited, but since I kind of got to go a little earlier, I may skip out in, but we'll see. You've got a lot in your plate.

There's a lot of stuff going on right now, but you know, it's really interesting. You were telling me that he's, he's really built an A team out there. He's bringing in some, some big hitters.

Yes, Sarah Algram is out there from she was formerly with the it's a bourbonite YouTube channel. She actually poured our tastings for all of us and, you know, kind of talked to us about, you know, talked us through things and it was a That's a it's a really neat place. You know, my colleague is an interesting guy by all means, and he has turned that into a very interesting place. And funny enough, I actually we actually walked in there before they were even done with the building because they were kind of working. And funny enough, I knew the contractor. He used to be a a worked for one of the distributors as and like did like wine tastings and like was big on the wine. So I was like, Seth, what are you doing here? He's like, I'm a contractor too. I'm like, well, small world, but. It's a cool place. I feel like Lexington is getting ready to blow up bourbon wine. That's good. Frankfurt's doing well. Tourism is big. I think it's going to bring a lot to Lexington.

Whiskey as a whole is a broad category. It's hitting a little bit of a rough time right now. But bourbon tourism is on fire. Yes. So we're still good.

So, yes, you know, roadies, if you don't want to go to Louisville, don't want to stop in Frankfurt, you know, I think with RD1 opening that new place, it's gorgeous. look into Lexington too. We were just over at Pepper. Yeah, over at Pepper. It's really neat. You've got Barrow House there. In Midway, which is right in between Frankfurt and Lexington, you have the Bluegrass Distilling. They do some really neat stuff. It's kind of a farm kind of distillery. It's Elkwood Farms is what they call it. Yeah, it's just kind of like growing, like it's kind of expanding out, which is kind of neat. But yes, keep coming to Kentucky. There's always something new and some really neat stuff.

Well, cheers, Todd. Thank you for that report.

Yeah. All right, so we're going to move. We need that do, do, do, do, do, do, do, do, do, do, do, do, do.

So now we're moving on to the big gun. We talked about this at the beginning of the show. This is a whiskey that we had this distillery on a few weeks back. Yes. But this particular bottle didn't make it on. So we were out in Colorado. We went to Law's Whiskey House and we had Allen Law's on and we did a big tour and tasted through all their whiskies and had a really great time. Put out a great article on the internet if you want to go check it out on the website. But after the interview was over and after we had taken all our pictures and done all the things that you do, Alan and I got to spend probably a good 45 minutes to an hour together just talking about the industry and what's going on. We did that by walking around his Rick house. And he had his maturation manager out there and we were just, we were just tapping barrels. We were just having a good time. That's fun. And, uh, he said, Oh, this one here, you got to try this one. I said, what is it? He said, well, this is, uh, this is 425 X four. He said, uh, this is our next was the X really big. And they've got some really neat barrels out there. They've got a lot of artwork on them and stuff. I mean, it's pretty fun. It's a fun place. But anyway, this particular barrel is already allocated to a store. But it was such an impressive barrel to him that he wanted me to try it. And we tried it while we were there, it was fantastic. And he did leave me just a little bit. I've got a little bitty small bottle here that Todd and I have a pour from. And we thought, you know, this just needs to make it on the show because we haven't had a 156 proof rye on the show. You heard that right. Ever.

Ever.

You heard that right. 156 proof. This is their San Luis Valley rye whiskey. This is, and I don't remember the exact age on it, but I'm going to say it's in the, It's in the five to eight year range. Now, do they have do they stack?

And I believe they have like the metal warehouse.

Yeah, these are these are palletized kind of racks. Yep.

OK. And did he did he know how this got to 156? I don't think they.

I have any clue how this, this one got to be so high, but anyway, this one it's kind of, let's just call it an outlier that they normally don't come out like this. I think that's a nice word for this. This is, but we're going to check it out folks. And Todd and I are not going to light any matches or anything while we're drinking this because it is cigars for this one.

This thing is clearly in the hazmat range. So cheers. Cheers. There's some candy sweetness.

Oh yeah. The nose is really nice on it. It has a hint of rice spice. It's like, you can tell this is not in that 10 year range, right? Right.

But not going to lie. I was a little scared to put my nose in it because you never know. It doesn't singe. It doesn't singe.

Yeah. It's got a nice round, sweet right nose to it. Kind of a, not so much rye muffin anymore, but maybe a little bit more like. Rye toast. Rye toast, getting into the candy dry a little bit, not too much. It's great for the nose. I'm ready to burn my tongue. Cheers. Cheers. Got nine one one on speed dial. Oh my gosh. That's so delicious. That's a buttery wash.

Oh, that got dark.

Yeah. Yeah. It goes, it comes in like it's a light, but buttery kind of wash across the front of your tongue.

And then it goes all like dark.

That's like dark chocolate, uh, chocolate, um, a little bit of clove. Like a really roasty, roasty note, like almost maybe even like a little smokey, right? Yeah. Roasty smokey. You almost get a little bit of that kind of a medicinal iodine, just a hint of it. Just like a, like a very light hint of it.

Oh wow. Second sip is just like.

Yeah. I mean, this is be dangerous to sit and drink for too long, but I'll be honest with you. It's delightful. It's really good. This is a, this is not an everyday sipper. This is not something that, uh, that you're going to go grab off the shelf every day. You're going to grab this once in a while, or you're going to introduce your friends to it and say, this is a big 90 night cap.

Like you didn't sleep well the night before. This might be the, this might be the one that puts you down.

There's a little bit of that sort of smoky medicinal note to it. I kind of like that. Interesting. You don't get that very often in a rye.

Getting a little like burnt, maybe burnt orange is it? I guess you said that smoky. So like almost like a grilled burnt orange kind of thing. Yeah. And a little bit of like, uh, maybe even burnt marshmallow too, but toasted marshmallow. That's a good one.

Wow. So this is going out to a, I can't remember the exact town, but let's just say about halfway between Denver and Colorado Springs, maybe monument down near monument or so off. There's a, I wish I, I wish I had my notes, but there'll be a, this, these things are going to be on the shelf. And, and if I. If I get word of it and I'm supposed to get word when it releases, I'll make a post on it. So I'll definitely make a post on it. So any of our Colorado roadies can run out and grab one. Alan told me he would send my son a message when it releases so he can run up and pick up a bottle or two.

So I don't expect it to stay long.

At 156 proof?

Yeah. Yeah.

Yeah. You don't get that very often.

Yeah. I was going to say just the uniqueness of that. It's going to draw them in. Do you know about what MSRP might be?

I don't, but I would expect this to probably be in the $70 to $80 range. I was going to say $80, $90 maybe. Yeah. I mean, it's a huge proof, but it is their San Luis Valley Rye whiskey. And it's just an interesting area in Colorado that's kind of a depression. in the earth where it's kind of a low ground and it has big temperature swings and it's sort of a saddle below the mountains. It's an interesting place. But you know, they're really big on sourcing Colorado grown grain. So I'm going to have a hard time tonight with the rankings, Todd.

Same.

Yeah. But it's kind of expected, I think.

Yeah, it's what we do. I would say, I'd probably usually say this every time we do the rankings. All four of these are a, are a buy for me. I mean, I know there's no chance of me seeing this, this rye here.

Well, it's possible. It's possible. It's possible.

Maybe if your son picks up one and he gets you a bottle and you know, drives it on a semi that's got the hazmat tag on it. But, uh, Yeah. I mean, we've had some great porcelain and that's, that's what's about. So that's right.

All right. So we had, uh, the Millwood bourbon. It was a bottle and bond proof. It was a four year old bourbon out of a pursuit. Uh, they're paying homage to the Millwood distillery of days gone by. And then we had the Derby Town bourbon, which was 122 proof. 122.8, I believe. And it was a seven-year. Seven-year, huh? Seven-year bourbon, also from Pursuit.

Paying again, some more homage to. Yeah. That pass of Melwood and all that.

Right. And then, and then we had the 15 star, um, uh, reserve finance dry, which came in at 95 proof. 95 proof. Yes. And, uh, let me go back a little bit.

Our proof range is crazy. 95 to 156.

So let's go back to the Melwood. The first one, it was a $29 bottle. It was a 375. Then there was a $49 bottle for the Derby Town. Correct. 122 proof. The 15 stars was... 139. 139. And then finally, you're not going to get this. You could get it. It'll be released at a store in Colorado. The 156 proof San Luis Valley rye whiskey. It is barrel 425X out of Laws Whiskey House.

I'm curious to know if there's an X on any barrel that's this, this higher proof or it's like, you know, if it's like one 25 Z that's like, you know, it could have been X for experimental. It's extra, extra.

Yeah. Excellent. Excellent. Uh, but no, it will get released. And if I get the word in time, I will make sure to get the word out to the roadies. So if they're. So if they're in driving distance or whatever, they can reach out and get a bottle. But yeah, it'll be a store bottle out there from a liquor store in Colorado. But a fantastic, I guess this will probably be in the 70, 80, $90 range. I would think so. It hasn't been delivered yet. Therefore it hasn't been priced yet. So we're just speculating on what it'll cost. But, um, if you can get 156 proof rye whiskey, uh, in the, um, well to medium aged rage, uh, for under a hundred dollars, uh, you're probably doing good. So.

Yeah, that's one to grab just for uniqueness, I think. Yeah, that chocolate is getting more pronounced. That's crazy.

Really warms you up, though. This would be a full-width whiskey. I'm ready to lift weights or something. I'm like, oh, woo. All right, Todd. So I think we need to take a minute, reflect, and decide what's going to be your number four for the night.

My number four is actually gonna be that rye. And I do that because it's excellent, but... It's just going to be hard to find. So I feel like that's like, you know, single barrels, you know, it's kind of like the cheat code, if you will.

Yeah. And I kind of feel the same way. And I'm going to, I'm going to go with you on that. I, although it's interesting and it, it has this great warming effect in this nice, um, it's not balanced. It's just, it's all there. It's all it's, um, but it's a delicious ride.

Yes. It makes me want to, if I do see a single barrel rye from them, yeah, I might give it a shot. That kind of thing. It doesn't even have to be 156 proof, but yeah.

So that's going to be my number four. Got it. Got it. Okay. So my number three is going to be Derby town. I'm not Derby town. I'm sorry. Melwood.

I'm going to agree with you there. Okay. Solid, solid bottle and bond. Yeah. And that is a good price for a pint and you know, won't break your wallet. It's smaller.

So, and it's one of the better four year old bottle and bonds I've had in a long time.

And we've had some good ones. We have had some good ones thinking of the. The Brothers Bond was really good.

I don't think it's Brothers Bond good, but it's really good.

Then we have our Baldwin Bond show where we had Detling. We've had some really good ones.

That would fit right. It's right up there with the best of them, no doubt about it. Ryan and Kenny did a great job on that one. What's your number two?

My number two is going to be the 15 stars. Me too.

We're lockstep today. Yep. I'm point.

Yep. Great. That's a great pour. It is really good. I wish maybe like seven or eight proof, like something like 103. It drinks so nice, but I don't know. I just wanted a little more.

I think they proved it well for drinkability, but with it being a reserve, I think it needs to be something else. You know what I mean?

Yeah. Consider most of their stuff is in that 103 to 110 range. But yeah, that's a...

I think it drinks better than the First West, but it just... Ooh, we might take a pair of that. That would be a good thing to do.

That would be a good thing to do. All right. Science.

Yep. And that, our winner. That means that the... Our Derby winner. Derby Town. Wow. Derby Town bourbon. Derby Town bourbon. From Pursuit. Yeah. 375 milliliter bottle for $49.95. As far as we know, available at the shop. But it could be on the shelf.

Yeah, I'll find out some more info and put a little post kind of thing. We'll take some photos of the bottles and, you know, and of course, I'll probably send out some samples to some lucky roadie. Some lucky roadie.

Join that roadie page. Can you ship this 156?

Uh, that one we might not do. I don't know. It might melt the box or something. I don't know.

I would, you know, it's one thing to, to, to ship whiskey when you shouldn't, but it's a, it's another thing to ship hazmat when you shouldn't.

Double, double bottle it or something.

Double box it. All right. Well, Todd, it's been a great show.

Yeah.

Lots of fun. I appreciate the, all the news updates from you. Yeah. And keep them coming. Yep. Definitely. And we have, uh, who we got coming up soon. So we've got, uh, Menden Mill. Menden Mill's coming out of Nevada.

We've got, we're Talks with Oaklor, we haven't got anything set. But we got their whiskies. We got their whiskies. And actually, I think they're sending us another sample. So that's kind of what it's holding us up there. We have a pretty cool chat coming up with Cave Zamanian at Rabbit Hole. He is the author, he is the co-author of a book called The Mother of Bourbon, which is about Mary Dowling. We also haven't, speaking of authors, I told him I'd send him some dusty samples. His name is Aaron Goldfarb and he wrote a book called Dusty Booze that I literally read on a flight down to Savannah. It was so like, I'm into vintage whiskey. So I mean, I just, just rolled through that. And Aaron Goldfarb has already established himself well in the business. So that should be a, should be a really fun. Yeah. It's kind of reached out to him. He's like, sure. Sounds good. So I'm very excited about that. We're going to go hit up Greg Keeley with Leriken bourbon company. And yeah, uh, uh, Barry Brinegar at RD1.

Got a lot going on. I know. Got a lot going on. Aaron Malali is at, uh, at Lerkin now. Yeah. So he moved from, so we just had him on the show at Jay Madeline. Now he's at, uh, at Lerkin. So yeah, it'd be great to get out there. And I'm hoping that, um, Greg gets his cigar smoke room open out there.

So he's got a nice little like, uh,

He does, he does. It's really cool. You just got to go outside to smoke. He hasn't opened his cigar bar-ish part. Yeah.

And then actually, hopefully we're going to chat with the Pursuit guys and. Yeah. Well, maybe revisit this, that show that should be fun.

Lots and lots going on. All right. Lots of fun folks. You just need to tune in. Yep. All right. Well, you can find the bourbon road on all social media outlets. You can find us on Instagram, Twitter, YouTube, tech talk, Facebook threads. We do all of those every single week. Todd and I get together. Have some guests on. Sometimes it's just Todd and I like the day, but we're always drinking whiskey. We're always having fun. Hopefully, we're letting you know some good expressions that you can add to your bar and introduce your friends to and try out. It's lots of fun to share your whiskey, so make sure you're doing that on a daily basis, or at least on a weekly basis. Right. But we'd love you to tune us in whenever you can. 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 when we come out with one, you'll get a notification that we've dropped it and you can go on that next drive or whatever it is you do with your headphones on and it will be part of your day. Make sure you check out the bourbonroad.com, check out our blogs, our shop for all our merch. Definitely check out The Bourbon Roadies on Facebook, it's our private Facebook group. Lots of great people in there. But until the next time, we'll see you down the Bourbon Road.

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