453. From Goa to Glasgow: The Maltmigos Ride Again

Oh 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 three 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 thehillhousekentucky.com. All right, Roadies, long-time listeners and new fans alike, glad to have you back. We've got another show for you today. We're once again in Frankfort at the Corner Rick House. It's supposed to be the Malt Migos riding again today, but we're the Trace Malt Migos.

Yeah, 75% of the Malt Migos is here, so.

So Amzie won't be with us today. No Amzie, but. Rob Carter made it. Yeah. In the house, thank you guys. All right, Rob, welcome back to the show. I love these Malt & Migos episodes. It gives us a chance to spend a little time on the other side of the fence.

Yeah. We actually warmed up with a little American single malt from Menden Mill. And the funny thing about that episode was that the guy asked us if we were into single malts. And we were kind of like, yeah, kind of, sort of. And I think I even said something about maybe we could get, you and AMSE could start the single malt road, maybe another separate podcast. We could like expand our empire a little bit. Any interest in that? The pay is huge.

Coming at you two nights a week.

Yes.

Knock them out, Rob.

You could come out on single malt Monday.

I mean, it just works. There you go. I like it.

Welcome back to the show, Rob.

It's good to see you. Thank you guys. I appreciate it. I'll step my game up and I'll put in for AMSE as well.

There you go.

Oh, you're going to drink AMSE's pours also? Yeah, I got it. That was the main point. All right. So Todd, you've set us up tonight with five malt whiskies. These are all single malts.

All single malts, a couple from India, and then three from Scotland. So we're traveling the world today.

All right.

So we're going to be three in the first half. That's the plan, yes.

All right. And we don't really have a bonus pour, but we might be able to figure something out if we have time.

I was going to say, if we have to, we could go dig in the back, and I'm sure there's something back there. But to start off, we've got Royal Tiger. This is their straight single malt double cask. It is handcrafted by master distiller, Craig Enriquez at Ocean King Distillers in India in the Indian state of Goa. I'm hoping I'm pronouncing that correctly.

My Indian geography is not on point for sure.

It's a big place. I remember him. If you showed me the shape, I know what country it is, that kind of thing. And I know there's a lot of people there. And I know they love their scotch. And I think that's one of those places that the bourbon guys want to really get into and start

Yeah, I think Indian whiskey business, it's a big deal. Yeah. I mean, it's a really, really big deal. And it's nice that we've got a couple of these signed bottles, actually. So we're going to drink a couple of Indian single malts.

So, this one's pretty cool because it's six-row barley from the foothills of the Himalayas. Wow. I know. That might be my first Himalayan barley experience, I'm sure. Nice. From a private spring on a family estate, and it's aged in newly charred ex bourbon barrels, and then the whiskey is recast after three years into another newly charred barrel.

So, that's the double cask. It's got some decent color to it.

Yeah, 86 proof. I believe the retail on this was only like $49.99. Okay.

But yeah, let's check it out. Check it out. Oh yeah, that's a buttercream on the nose a little bit.

Yeah, vanilla, honey. Vanilla.

Yeah, it definitely is a lower proof boar and it doesn't attack your nose. It's kind of a very, very light and just sweet, deserty kind of.

Yeah. It's a hot day in Kentucky. It is very hot today.

Oh my gosh.

Might be a good thing. We're sipping on these lower proof single malts.

Yeah, Mel, you told me it'd be a good day to go out and clean out the outside stall.

It was rough. It was rough. Yeah, I got my yard mowed because we've got some rain coming. Yeah.

And I always get that a little, you know, it's kind of light, but that peaty. You getting a little peat on that? I do. Just a very hint. I don't know why. Maybe when you said scotch, it just, you know, you messed with my brain.

Well, this one's from India though, so I don't know if they use peat, but I'm ready to sip it. I know why. Cheers. Cheers.

That is super sweet. Yep. Very, very sweet. Now that brings together that sweet cream vanilla that we call butter cream vanilla. That brings the kind of the icing part of it in. Yeah, for sure.

I'm not an ice guy anymore, but you know, that is so, sweet and almost refreshing that on a cube. It probably would be good on a cube, I bet. I don't know. Just throwing that out there.

overripe pear thing going on, not like a fresh pear, but it's been on, like you said, that sweetness.

Yeah. I mean, this is actually a really good whiskey. For me, it's not my normal kind of thing to have something so sweet and ice creamy or whatever it is. I don't know. But I think you mentioned honey and then the vanilla, all of those things. And then, yeah, the overripened fruit.

Still got a little bit of a oaky, spicy finish, just a little bit, and that might be coming from that double cask.

I'm getting a little bit of a Bangalore hug.

What about you, Rob? I'm a kind of new deli or something. No, more new deli, right? Yeah.

I think it's a winner. It's good. Yeah, that's a solid. I like it. So they sent these out to us.

Yeah, we've had them for some time and, you know, it was just kind of waiting, waiting for Rob and AMSE to be ready. But we finally got Rob ready. And well, like I said, AMSE couldn't be here, but.

Rob's joining Amzie and I and I guess Bo on a couple of barrel picks here in a couple of weeks. That's fun.

Taking the Western trail though, right?

We're hitting the Western Kentucky. Yeah. My first for the record. First barrel pick. I have no concept of what's going to happen. Well, you already know how to drink whiskey, so you're trained in that part of it. Fair enough. And you know what you like. So there's another one.

I was going to say, you guys are actually doing two, right? Two.

Yeah. We're doing one at 10 a.m. and one at 2 p.m. And then Amzie said, well, when we check into the hotel, there's one across the street too, so. And then Rob and I are thinking about maybe going to the Screaming Eagle Cigar Bar in Clarksville right there at the...

Okay.

Nice. At the base. What's that called? The base down there. What is it? Fort Campbell, Kentucky.

Fort Campbell, yeah. Okay. But Clarksville is really where everybody hangs out, right? Gotcha, gotcha. That'd be interesting. I want to see some pictures. But yeah, I think you'll really enjoy it.

Yeah, yeah. You know, Jim, I know you said this wasn't your normal go-to flavor and so speak, nor mine. But again, it's a very good flavor. A little sweet, but it's the very thing I like to have a little taste of and then move into the things I like even more. Because I don't want a whole lot of sweet, but I do enjoy this. one little pour. So that's kind of how I'll operate.

This would make like a good, a spirit base for like a cream liqueur. You know what I mean? Yeah. Kind of. I don't know. Have you ever had a single malt cream liqueur? Then you must make them.

I've yet to see one, but surely someone's got one out there. I don't know.

We've got Irish cream, liqueurs, you've got, do you have, which there's kind of single malts. Yeah.

I've never seen a scotch cream. I haven't seen a scotch cream. That'd be interesting if you especially got like a peaty one. Burnt cream. Peated cream. It's coming off a little bready too, like honey drizzle fresh bread.

Yeah, I would say that it's a real pleasant experience here. You said it was $49 a bottle?

I think so. But like I said, I need to double check that.

So if you see Royal Tiger on the shelf at $49, this is a three-year finished single malt, but made with grains from the Himalayas. Isn't that something? It is. This is probably what they're drinking before they climb Everest. Well, maybe when they come back down. I don't think you drink beforehand going up.

I wouldn't think so. Is that chance you're going to slip and fall? The fact that it thins your blood out a little bit. I think with that blood flowing through you at all times.

You don't want to be stumbling up the hill there.

I think I might just stay back in camp and drink. That's what I think I would do.

Get some Himalayan salt. Go from there.

All right. So one down, one to go for Royal Tiger.

Yeah.

What do we have next?

This one is their Sherry cask. And. I'm pretty sure it's the same thing. There's double caskant, but that second cask is going to be your Spanish sherry cask. Okay. Proof is still the same, 86. Price goes up a little bit because of the finish. It goes up to about 63, I think. 59, 63, something like that.

We might expect this one to be a little less sweet, but have more depth from the sherry. It feels like it's coming off a little bit hotter on the nose. Still 86, you said. Yep.

Just a hair darker, if you look at them kind of side by side, I think. Yeah.

Definitely.

The first one's kind of straw colored. The second one, I would, I know we gave that first one some honey note, gave it some honey notes, but I think the second one kind of looks like some pale honey color.

Now the deep, rich, fruity notes are coming off on this one a little bit more.

Yep. A little less bready.

Yeah. I think this was a little more refined. It seems for me, the other one just had this overwhelming sweetness. This one hasn't hit my palate yet just on the nose, but it seems like it's a little more refined, maybe finished with a little more care.

A little bit like Sherry gets me a little bit of nutty note too. Just like a nut bread or something.

Fair enough. It smells good.

Oh, the bite's gone.

Yup. Sherry softens it, doesn't it?

It did soften it. It's not the same as that first one we had. This one doesn't have that same bite. It kind of hits that mid palate and just sort of glides straight back. Well, same proof, huh?

Mm-hmm. Wow. That is a good point.

Yeah. It softened it up a lot. Now, the nose seemed to be a little bit hotter for me, but... Yeah.

I think it was more expressive. Yeah. I would say that. But I think that kind of goes to show you what two fresh new casks can do to a single malt. I mean, I had something from Teeling recently that was aged in a new charred oak. And I mean, it almost came off like a bourbon. It was really... Sure. Yeah.

I mean, that can happen, I think. I mean, the bourbons, I mean, it's defining factors are that, right? That new charred oak barrel. Right. You start playing new charred oak barrels and other things and all of a sudden they start tasting bourbon-like.

I've had a number of things in a sherry cask and it's kind of typical of what it does. It does soften it. It gives you just a slight hint of that sherry aroma.

So this one's 59 then.

I think it was like 59, 60. I'm sure it varies everywhere. A lot more vanilla on this, caramel.

Hold on. Let me check that out. Confirm for us.

See if you approve.

You guys are always a little ahead of me.

You're just a thinking man. I guess so.

I get it. All right. I'm with you. I concede. I confirm.

So I know we were big fans of the Amrute finish that Bardstown put out. Absolutely. I've yet to see an Amrute. That's one I want to try as far as Indian single wants because we were just so floored. They're out there. You just gotta go get it. I know. But it's one of those I feel like I'm going to have to go to one of the big box stores because, well, obviously Kroger has a few things. And then some of our local stores have some decent scotches. So what's your closest big box store? Probably Liquor Barn or Total Wine, Lexington.

Hamburg area, just off the interstate?

Yeah, right off the interstate. It's pretty quick to get to. I'll pop in there every once in a while just to see what they got. I've got a Total Wine card, so I don't ever buy enough to get much worth out of it. Maybe a dollar off something. Typically, I try to support my local. Well, like I said, Kroger is one of the best places for me to shop. Sometimes you can catch some fun stuff in there. And sometimes, we've talked about it lately, they have some crazy sales. I'm like, you guys are just giving this away. Jim picked up that.

Now, what's your honey hole over in Lawrenceburg?

You don't want to tell anybody. It's right next to the... And it's a real good place to go to. Yeah. I think I've been there. Sorry, I know I messed up your whole show right there. They're fine. You're fine. No, I get it.

But you work here in Lawrenceburg, so you got to protect your honey hole.

Yeah, you know, there's spots around. We've all got one here and there. Having said that, they're often that location will go 12 to 16 weeks with nothing. So, you know, persistence is the name of the game.

Do you just keep popping in? Just keep popping in? Absolutely. Do they beep you or call you or anything? Nope. No, you don't get any special treatment?

I got nothing. Nope. I smile every time I go in. I ask them about their families. I talk to them. They still act like I'm nobody.

I'm sitting here thinking, who is this?

You should say, you guys should put out a tip jar.

I'd put money in it. Exactly.

I have to swing by there when I go down to my office in Bowling Green. I think I know where you're talking about. It also changed hands, did this one? Did yours change hands a couple of years ago?

Not so much, not so much. Okay, so maybe it's- No, same family for many years.

Same family, yeah. Okay. Gotcha.

We'll talk after the show.

Swing by and pick me up. All right.

All right, love it, love it. So, Royal Tiger is

It's been around since, I did find out it's been around since only 1962. So in the world of single malls, it's not that old, you know, when you think of like the Scotland.

It still kind of surprised me. I thought it would have been a newer brand. Interesting. So is, is our market kind of new for them or?

I kind of get that feeling. I mean, you know, that we get a lot of, Hey, announcements like you're like, I've never heard of that. So that was one of those like, okay, sounds interesting. And, you know, me, I'm like, sure, we'll try some samples and they sent full bottles. And I'm like, okay. But we just kind of never got around to having like a show where they worked, I guess was the best thing. I mean, we try to keep it on theme, if you will.

Yeah. And, you know, me being a novice in this whole single malt arena a little bit, I mean, This stuff is good. If this is your go-to... genre or whatever, I don't know how to say it exactly. I mean, these two were good. And as you mentioned that first one, it did have a hub to it on the end, a little spicy hug. And then this next one, Sherry cask eliminated all of that. It just sort of softened it up. So yeah, it was amazing.

And our next one is from a well-known distillery.

Yeah, Glenmore and Gee Scotland and we're gonna yeah, we're gonna have dessert before the half, which yeah, we're kind of cheating. Don't tell our wives. But this is their ice cream, a tale of ice cream. I guess it's probably been about four years ago, three or four years ago, they came out with one called a tale of cake, which was a big hit. I never got to try it. But it had this really fun like label on it. And What their master blender was trying to do was make a blended scotch that came off as a birthday cake. So this version is the ice cream. And his goal was to make it taste like a scoop of ice cream in a glass.

Wow. And what's the availability this time?

Glen Morgie's got to be at, I mean, it's a very big scotch brand. So I'm pretty sure you can find it anywhere. And I'll find the price.

Who wants the proof?

So the proof on this one is actually 92. Okay, so we're playing with fire now.

I said blended, I take that back.

We're not going to go too crazy today. So this is actually a single malt as well. So I thought it was a blended, but no, this is single malt.

Fantastic. So this is supposed to be, they don't give you the type of ice cream, just ice cream.

I think he's really trying to highlight the vanilla flavors.

Well, it's got vanilla. Ooh, and just a little bit of mint chocolate chip.

Oh, yeah? I think you're just thinking about ice cream.

Now you're killing me. It's pulled me in. You're killing me, Jim.

All these were aged in ex-Burban casks, so that's where you're probably like, it's probably a little easier to pull vanilla and flavors out of there. I am picking up some chocolate though. Oh yeah? Okay. I'm getting like some peach.

So on the, on the back of that bottle, I noticed it's Glenmore Angie. And then, so within that word I see orange. So then- Orangey. Orangey.

So you're getting orangey? Okay. Yeah. I got it. I like your logic.

I have a weak mind. Like you guys mentioned it and all of a sudden I taste it. I see it. I hear it. Yeah. Yeah.

The word more is also in there. So that makes you want more too, right?

So orange creamsicle. Is that what it is?

I could see that. I would go with like peach creamsicle though, I think. You sip it on already?

Yeah, I sipped on it.

Sorry guys, I got out ahead of you.

That's all right. The nose just drew me in. I had to have it. So I did get a little bit of chocolate on it. Wow. For me, it's a little more powerful than the vanilla.

Yeah. I'm going to have to go with you on that chocolate. You got it? Oh man, I sure did. You know, I'm in pursuit of that and wow, this is one of the... First I've tasted that chocolate in a bit. I'm just wondering if it's like that.

I think it's like that. The chocolate chip, vanilla chocolate chip ice cream, you know? Could be.

So their director of whiskey creation, Dr. Bill Lumsden, said, sipping Glen Morangy, a tail of ice cream, is like sinking your spoon into a carousel of flavor.

Okay. Fair enough. We can't call out the wrong notes. That's right.

We're covered. Now, each time I've tasted a chocolate note, and this one is no exception, it always kind of goes to the bitter side to me. I don't know if that's true with you guys, but I like that a lot. It's an aftertaste, bitter chocolate.

And MSRP on this one's $99.99. I've noticed like, I don't know, like Scotches have kind of crept up in price for that. I mean, I don't know if that's tariff related or something like that, but I kind of wonder if their sales are hurting a little bit.

It could be. I think spirits in general is experiencing a little bit of a, well, I mean, the people who are coming of age have a different mindset when it comes to spirits. Yeah.

They need to start listening to the Bourbon Road more often to change their minds. And soon to come to you, the Single Malt Road, hosted by Rob Carter and Anthony Winning. Twice a week.

I think they should do it three times a week.

There's a lot of single balls out there. I think once is good. Especially when you can get them free samples. It's hard to beat that.

I know how daggone hard you guys work for one, so I can tell you two ain't happening. Much less three.

Well, Rob, how many shows you've been on now? Did you keep track? You lost track.

I lost track, yeah. It isn't like it's a great number, but it's maybe... Seven or eight? Seven or eight.

Yeah. I think so.

I think I'm in that range, yeah. You're in that range where you just quit counting. Yeah, yeah. It's just, you know...

The important thing is we'll begin to five so you could bring us in on the second half. Oh, there you go. Yep.

Yep. If we had the Bourbon Roadhead Wiki page, we would know this, like who's had the most guest appearances and things like that.

There you go. Yep.

Anybody out there wants to start to work on that can? They can talk about everything that's been reviewed and every episode Rob's been on and AMSE.

I think I can Google and many of them come up, but I don't know if they all come up. I don't know how that works or why I would miss one, but I have to check that out. And soon we need to do one at the Rare Eagle bar, so I'm going to be one more.

I still haven't seen it.

I know, so soon. Tell me when, we're there now.

Well, maybe we should have the Eagle Rare 12 there. Oh, that's a good idea. When one of us gets the bottle, we'll do the review there. Oh, that'd be perfect. And we'll compare it to the 10. Sure. And something else, maybe the 17.

Well, I actually had already had something lined up for that, but yeah.

Okay.

Because I think I've got the new, a nice sample of the Russell's new Russell's 13, which is the highest proof release wild turkeys ever had.

123 proof, I believe.

Wow. So, Yeah, we were going to do kind of an age statement, but that would actually, we're probably going to burn him out on the single month. So maybe we should throw some bourbon at him. He's like, throw whatever. I thought we might do like an age statement kind of thing. But yeah, that'd be fun. I know I was talking about having Jeremy James on that episode who used to do barstools and bourbons. And he actually procured us a sample of the Eagle Rare 12 and then another friend.

Nice.

got the wild, or the Russells 15, and then I got a couple other fun things to try that are age stated. So let's book it.

Bring five, I'll just sit back and watch.

All right. Well, I really like this one. I think it's a great exercise in trying to achieve a certain flavor profile. I don't know that it got ice cream, but it made me imagine that I could find ice cream notes in it. Yeah.

It's like that soft texture kind of like, I don't know, like you remember when you were a kid and you'd let it melt a little bit. And I kind of can see that just the texture is kind of creamier and softer than those other two, I guess.

And I wonder if times if we should maybe drop a splash of water occasionally. We can do that.

Let's do it.

See if that's how the curator imagined it. Takes a little tiny. I might've dropped too much water.

I did too, but that's all right. It's already way down there in proof.

Wow, that really opens up the nose.

That's nice. That did help it. Rob, I think your idea of a cube from time to time or even a couple drops of water is not bad. Not a bad deal.

Not something that I do per se.

We'll have to start to patent that. Drop a cube. There you go.

Drop a cube. All right. Well folks, we're gonna take a short break We're gonna turn the air conditioner on in here and see if we can't get the temperature back below 90 degrees We'll continue sipping on this Glen Morangia tail of ice cream really good. We come back in the second half. We've got two more expressions from over the pond and 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 listeners. We've been diving into some Indian single malts. We also dove into some ice cream, so to speak, from Glen Morangy, their tale of ice cream. And we're here with Rob Carter today. Trace malt amigos. Trace amigos rather than quattro amigos, malt amigos, yeah. But yeah, we've had, it's been a fun, You know, change up. Last time we had Rob on, we kind of had a little bit of a single malt showdown. And that was a lot of fun. Who won that? I think I edged it out. I mean, Rob's was second. But I had that crazy, almost like citrusy lemon hoppy from St. George. Yeah. Really unique.

I remember that now. My goodness. Yeah, we had some good ones, though. Yeah, we did.

We're going to dive into a couple more. These are straight from Scotland this time. Like I said, India first and then finishing up with Scotland and what we have.

You're getting some long distance shipments lately.

Well, I'm sure this came from California or something. It came from here. Well, I guess it came from there to here and then on to me. But this is the Glen Scotia 10-year-old Scotch whiskey. And this particular one is from the Campbelltown area, which I read is the smallest of the five Scotch regions. You've got your Islay, your Highland Park, and then Campbelltown, however you say it. And then there's two others, which I should know. I don't, unfortunately. I feel like I'm a fish out of water here. But this is their 10 year old.

I already had my nose in it. It's got a great aroma. Oh yeah. That's nice. That is nice. That's a great nose. I wish I knew how to describe it.

Be curious to know if some of these can have food coloring added to them. Be curious to know if that's the case for either of these two.

This one is kind of light. It's a little lower on the fruit notes. Definitely the green is kind of shining through on it. It's got kind of a little bit of a medicinal note to it. Kind of almost like a soapy kind of nose to it. But I will say this, I'm picking up some tobacco, some older notes, some more age, some better age notes on it.

I'm getting a little apple, like really ripe red apple.

Yeah, I'm getting a bit of a deep fruit of some sort as well. Just a pleasant sweet smell.

A little bit of oak on there too, which is nice.

Yeah. It's definitely showing its age a little bit. I know 10 years for a scotch is not a lot, but for a bourbon 10 years is pretty respectable.

Heck yeah. And we've actually dropped in proof. This one's 80 proof.

Okay.

Yeah.

This one was really nice.

Yeah. Okay.

And it does have a little bit of an iodine note to it. There's no smoke on this, though. No smoke. Huh. It's sitting next to a barrel with some smoke on it, then. Yeah. It's got a little bit of a.

Now, it does say this kind of like aged near the ocean.

OK.

So because it talks about like one of their nosing things was like sea salt spray. I'm like, I didn't get that.

I'm definitely getting a little bit of a medicinal note. It's so light though, but it's kind of a little bit of iodine.

That's, to me, that's a bit of the nature of a scotch anyway. You can often get a little bit of that.

Super well balanced. Really nice.

And still got a little heft to it despite it being 80 proof. That's crazy. That's some, this might be the first 80 proof I've had.

In a while.

In a long while. Yeah. Well, every now and then we all dip into a little Basil Hayden, right?

Which is exactly what I had in mind.

This retails for $74.99. I kind of want to try it against the cake. Sorry, the ice cream. There's some similarities there to me.

There are some similarities. This one's a little bit... I don't know. This one's, it's, it's got me. It's got me. I don't, I can't put my finger on it, but it's, it's well balanced, but it's got a couple of notes that just are a little out of the box for me. And I like it.

Is it on the box in a good way or a bad way?

Yeah, I'm going to say.

In a good way, not just off-putting. Okay, the medicinal isn't off-putting for you. No, because I do enjoy that sometimes.

I do enjoy that sometimes when it's the right amount and it matches the rest of the blend.

I'm the same way. Often I get people talk about that flavor and I'm good with it.

It's like a gingery finish, which I kind of like. Just a little bit of, it's not even oak spice. It's like a little, yeah. Like fresh ginger, ginger spice. Yeah. I get that. Man.

So again, you guys are good.

Yeah. Well balanced. Very nice. This is, uh, from the tip of my tongue to the finish across the mid palette, a little bit of dripping on the sides. This thing is, uh, is checking all the boxes for me. And I love that. Like I said, that little bit of a medicinal note, that little bit of iodine that's sort of popping through. Um, you say it's next to the sea, maybe, maybe a little bit of a kelp or something.

Sea salt. Sea salt.

Yeah. I don't know. Anyway, Um, it's got, it's kind of neat. You don't see a lot of scotch bottles with the, uh, with the Buffalo trace, uh, uh, neck, what's it called? That the neck on there, the bulb.

I'm not sure what there's a name for that.

But it's very, you know, the wellers have it.

Yeah.

Right. Hmm.

But both of their bottles have this. Yeah. This one's a little more pronounced on the Glen Scotia.

It affects the poor because of the height of the bottle.

Yep.

Very good. Going back to the nose, just pleasant all the way around. Now, Glen Scotia, why do they call it Glen Scotia? Is there any kind of a background on it, Don?

I'm sure there is, but I didn't do a super deep dive into that. Just more about tasting and chatting with Rob and seeing what came out on top, so to speak. And it's always nice to just kind of step away from bourbon every once in a while. I think on the show we have a lot of fun.

It is nice. We need to do some tequilas though.

Well, we did that one where I think we had like a tequila.

I had the So Tall, you had the Mezcal, we did an Apple Brandy, which was a lot of fun. Maybe I'm just thinking we need to do it more often.

Well, there's those tequilas that have been like, I don't know if you guys have noticed, but some of these tequilas are telling what they're aged in now, which I'm sure they've been aged in know, Buffalo Tracer, Sazerite bottles for years. But well, now it's a big deal to throw that on there. So like you see tequilas aged in Weller barrels and things like that. And I've even seen Meyers rum has some rum that specifically says it's aged in Eagle Rare, things like that. So maybe we We do a tequila road. Yeah.

I like it. Yeah, now we're actually recording before the release of our next episode, which will be the previous episodes to this. So when you're listening to this, it would have been last week's episode. And we actually had a tequila finished bourbon. That's right. And it was pretty interesting.

It was pretty interesting. I think that was my first tequila finish, and I was really impressed.

Kind of interesting. You know, we're talking about a show that hadn't released yet, but when this show comes out, it'll be the week after.

I'm totally confused.

Yeah. We've gone all back to the future on him, Rob.

These shows that, you know, you're watching and the next thing they pop up, you know, six years earlier, they put a caption, six years earlier. And I'm like, oh crap, here we go. We're doing math.

Big fan of the flashbacks, huh? No, not a fan, not a fan.

So y'all are killing me. My wife knows this distinctly.

Well, here, I'm going to blow your mind. You have to listen this Wednesday to listen to the episode we're talking about, so that's all you need to know.

I'm in. I'm in.

All right. Big fan. Yeah, I like that one a lot too. Let's move on. What's next? So next up is the, and I probably should have

looked up how to pronounce this, but Loc Lamond.

Yeah.

Single malt, Scotch whiskey. This one's 12 years old. And it surprisingly retails for 59.99 for a 12 year. So gained two years, but dropped in what, about 15 bucks in price or so. Okay. That's odd. It is odd, but. That's what I'm seeing here.

And the proof?

And the proof goes up on this one. This one is 92. Oh, you get all the extras out of this one and pay less.

Yeah. Counterintuitive. Nice.

All right. Liquor, liquor math never adds up. So it just, you're like, why is that that? And that's that. And it's the same, basically the same thing, but.

So those, uh, those smoky medicinal iodine notes that were coming out in the last one are tripled in this. Trumped. Yeah.

See, I'm just going to like light smoky kiss on this one. Yeah.

Maybe my receptors are very sensitive to, to iodine. You can't pick up banana, but you're all over the iodine. I'm all over the iodine. Maybe why I'm not drinking, you know, Laphroaig all the time. I don't know. Band-Aids, Ashtrays, that kind of stuff, you know, it's not, not typically in my profile, but this, this one's very, still very lightly touched.

Now, one cool thing about Lac Lamont I read was that they were 2024, Scotch whiskey producer of the year, and that was the International Wine and Spirits Competition. Oh, wow.

Wow.

That's a big deal. That's kind of like the big, you know, you come out in your wrestling belt kind of thing.

Heck, yeah. The IWSC, I mean, that's a big deal. Yeah. I mean, that's the big leagues. Well, good for them. They make some great whiskeys, no doubt. These are delicious.

Yeah, like lightly grilled. I wouldn't say grill, but lightly smoked fruits is what I'm getting. The peaches, the pears.

Yeah, I'm getting more fruit on this than I did on the last one.

A little bit of a spicy hug on the end, more so than some of the others, except for maybe the royal that we started with.

All right. I'm ready to sip. Yep. Cheers. Cheers.

Sorry. It's okay, Ron. I'm deep in. I'll talk while you sit. Go ahead. Got some good.

Got some good flavors. Enjoy it.

There's a smoke, but it is. It's light.

Yeah. Yeah, it's got some, I would say that I find this common ground between their two bottles. There's this little bit of common ground between the two, but this one is amped up just a little bit. I'm just surprised at the price difference. It just blows my mind.

I'm just going by what I'm seeing on their press release. Is it a smaller bot? Is it a 700? It says they're both the same thing, 750 ml, which actually I was surprised at that too.

Yeah.

I thought, you know.

Maybe 700. It's just becoming a thing.

Yeah, but I mean, I'm pretty sure it aren't most Scotch bottles over here. Aren't they 700 or are they still kind of... Kind of mixed. 750, okay.

Yeah. So I think that we're going to find that a lot of manufacturers move into 700s. Sure. I mean, it's more acceptable, limited classware. Unfortunately, we're going to pay the price because they're not going to lower the price on the bottles.

And I think it's going to be a, it's kind of been a very slow process. I actually thought it would be quicker. I know here in America, you're like Woodford, some of the Woodford Reserve things. Obviously Jack Daniels is, it's kind of a Brown Foreman thing right now. Okay, nose, see the nose is just matching the palette to me. It's a little honey, a little like, like, like you took some pears and just, you didn't set them directly on the grill, just kind of set them on maybe some, you know, aluminum foil and like close it for a little bit.

They're not flame kissed.

Yeah. Yeah. Okay. Got it. Just kind of like lightly smoked or something. I like it.

There's a consistent theme with all these. I've noticed one thing none of us have said is floral on anything per se.

They're not overly floral. They're more fruit. Absolutely. I don't know where, if it's not smoked at all, I don't know where that iodine note would come from on the last one. Maybe I'm just the only one that picked it up. But this one's definitely got a little bit of it.

Well, I don't know. Again, I don't know if they use the peat to make any of these, but a single malt to me, there's always a little characteristic flavor. I don't even know if peat is the right word. I might be off on what I'm thinking that is, but I kind of get it in all of them. which kind of keeps me from tasting a fruit or a floral and also leads me to the iodine concept that you had. So I don't know, cause I get it. I've kind of tasted that.

Yeah, we should do a, we should do a peated scotch show. We should get in the big boys. Okay.

I've got, two that could jump into that question. Okay. Ardbeg, Cory Wreckin, which is one of my all-time favorites.

Oh, yeah.

Yeah. So yeah, I'd be down.

Okay, we can do that.

I bet Amzie would make sure he could be there for that one too. Yeah. I know he likes his peated.

All right.

Rob?

No, I like it. Okay. I like it. I like it as a unique flavor. I was going to say, the Cory Wreckin takes it to a, it probably doesn't take it to the highest level of peatedness, but it's up there. But it's good. Let's go.

It's definitely an acquired taste.

Sure, sure. So we've got five whiskeys we've tried through. Any last words on the Lac Lamand?

I really enjoyed it.

Yeah, me too. Yeah, it was good.

All five. There's been some slight similarities like Rob was talking about. But I mean, five good single mumps. Yeah, that was fun.

It's going to be tough because a few are close. And I don't want to confuse people, so we're only going to talk in terms of the name. So we won't say number one, number two, ABC, anything like that. We'll literally talk about which one it is. And with the two Royal Tigers, we had the Royal Tiger, Double cast single malt. Double cast single malt, which basically it saw a second charred barrel.

Yeah, second new char.

And then the raw tiger sherry was introduced into a sherry cast finish. And then we had the Glen Morangy ice cream. And then we had the Glen Scotia. 10 year. 10 year, which was a 10 year. And then we had the Lac Le Mans 12 year, which did kiss some smoke just a little bit. Just a little bit. Just a little bit. All right. Are we ready? I think I am. All right. So you're going to go first this time. Yes. All right. So what was your number five?

My number five was the Royal Tiger double cask.

OK.

enjoyable, but I don't know, that double barrel finish just kind of like, there was, it started out really nice, but it was a little abrasive on the end, just a little bit, but it's not aging in Scotland. Maybe, you know what I'm saying? I guess the Indian aging process could give it a little more harshness, but solid. And yeah, 49.99, that's a, yeah, I'm glad we got to try it. And I still want to try that arm root out there somewhere.

Yeah, absolutely. Well, I'll go next if that's okay, Rob, and then I'll let you lead off on the next one. All right. So my number five was also the Royal Tiger. For me, I think it was probably already a pretty sweet whiskey before it was entered into that second cask. And probably because of the milder climates, I'm assuming, I don't know. But maybe it just it just it was a bit overly sweet for me. Okay, it was it was good It's not a bad whiskey. It was a good whiskey But I think if you recall I said not exactly my profile, right?

Yeah, what about you Rob? Yeah, I'm gonna go real quick. I'm in there with you the same thing All the there's some others here that were kind of unique and enjoyable in different ways and I mean I liked that Royal Tiger, but I'll go with it as number five. All right.

And number four. You want me to go next?

Yeah. Okay.

All right. For me, my number four is the Royal Tiger Sherry cast finished.

Okay. Okay. Yeah. And I'm following you here. It was super pleasant. Man, I think a person should probably look into that if you like a real... you know, a non-harsh, you know, it's got some good flavors, you know, but low proof and easy drinker. Just not, not where I usually reside. Okay.

For four, I'm actually going to go off the board from you two this time. I'm going to go with the tail of ice cream.

Oh, I found it.

It's nice enough, but, um, Yeah. For me, spoilers, I guess I'll go ahead and jump into number three. I felt like the Royal Tiger Sherry finish just kind of, I'd like that slight nuttiness from the Sherry. And yeah, I felt like that Sherry toned down the sweetness a little bit. So yeah, I'll go ahead and yeah, my number three is going to be the Royal Tiger Sherry finish. So.

And Rob, you're number three. You know, I'm going, I'm going to switch up. You guys are going to probably have a hard time following this one, but Glenn Scotiate, number 10, 10 year. Oh yeah. Yeah. Yeah. I, yeah, I've just got some things about the others. I like, I like more basically, but it had a great flavor and a great aroma, but yeah, that's where I'm going. Number three.

All right. My number three is also against kosher. So you're not all totally out there. Well, I mean, maybe we're both out there. I kind of, and here's another spoiler, but yeah, I mean, I just, the ice cream kind of at first I was like, okay, yeah. Why does they call it ice cream? And then all of a sudden I get hit with those chocolate notes and I was like, Oh, I like that. So, um, What's your number two, Rob?

The 12 year. Oh, okay. And I liked it a lot. I had some good flavors and I'm holding out for my number one.

Yeah. My number two is going to be the Glen Scotia.

Okay.

So yeah, again, I'll reiterate what you guys said. It's a good pour. Yeah. Nothing wrong with it. But I just, today it just, to me, it came in second.

There you go. The ice cream's for me.

Okay.

So I'm moving to the ice cream. I, again, you know, I just flip-flopped on that one a little bit because I really appreciated it. I really liked it. And that's my number two.

Okay.

So we are split on the number one here.

We are today. Well, maybe not.

Well, I don't know. Why don't you say what you got, Rob?

Yeah, well, the ice cream. Okay. You know, we've talked about this before with me. Anytime I can get something that I get a pretty stout chocolate flavor on it, it's intriguing to me and I enjoy that about the The Tale of Ice Cream. That's my number one, just for that.

I like that subtle smoke kiss on the Lac Lamond. Number 12. It's tickled my fancy today. I'm with you on it.

Yeah, really good stuff. I think that in most ways, we kind of all agreed. There was a little variation in the middle and such, and we all didn't have the same number one pick. But I think that You know, my number two was the ice cream. Your number one was the ice cream. And both of our number ones was the Lac Lamand. So those two kind of took the show, right? There you go.

Yeah, I think so. And then, you know, obviously that that smoky kiss isn't going to be for everyone. So, I mean, I think there's some good options. And the other four that we had today, I think Rob said he got a little smoke on, I think it was the first one, the Royal Tiger. But for the most part, they were kind of fruit forward or bready or honey and things like that. And I, you know,

Give him a shot. All right. All right. So the Lac Le Mans 12-year took the show today. And then a close, well, I don't know if it was a close second, but in second was the ice cream. And third, I think we had what? What do you think if you had to guess?

Probably the ice cream. Or wait, nah, probably the Glen Scotia. Glen Scotia too, I think. Yeah. I think obviously we were all agreed on the fifth place, but the Sherry and Glen Scotia, it's kind of a flip flop.

And I get what you're saying on that, Todd. That did have sort of a deeper, richer kind of base flavor that was really nice. Yeah. I'm still confused why the Glen Scotia and La Clermont are priced the way they are, but whatever.

It's all good. Could have been a typo, who knows?

Exactly.

Those folks at the PR do a lot of work, so sometimes... Actually, it's funny, I'll tell the story on Lost Lantern, they sent out an email in regards to the new summer estate collection. And I was kind of zipping through it real quick. And I was like, and I emailed Amy our contact there back and I was like, you still got this year. It literally said like 2024 summer collection. I was like, you need to up it a year and call your summer. And she was like, oh, thank you. Good catch.

So awesome. So you're part time marketing for.

Hey, if they send us free samples, I'll help out as much as I can. I love those guys.

Well, it's been a great show.

Yeah, it was fun.

I think the Maltmigos do right again. I know there's only three of us, but we're the trace amigos.

So the good thing is we have plenty here to share with Amzie. Maybe he'll give his... Yeah. His top five, we'll rank them maybe on when we do a post or something like that.

And then we're already brainstorming the idea of a heavily pitted episode, right?

We're always brainstorming ideas. Age statements, we're going to do one like some bourbon-tasting age statements.

Mostly about bourbons. There's going to be a lot of bourbon shows in between, but we'll work for it.

We like to throw you something a little different every once in a while. It's kind of fun to step off the bourbon road and try something a little different.

Well, in all fairness, most of us novices, or at least for me, I often just call it bourbon. I don't even think about a rye being a rye and not a bourbon, and a scotch is not being a bourbon. I don't know, maybe I'm just too much of a novice, but it's good to hear about all these and I appreciate it.

It's good to have you on again, Rob. Yes, it was, Rob. Thank you. We look forward to setting up our gear in the Rare Eagle R and having an episode. Epic. Epic episode. Yeah, absolutely.

I know. I'm excited to see it.

All right. Alright folks, well you can find the Bourbon Road on all social media outlets. You can find us on Instagram, Twitter, YouTube, TikTok, Facebook, threads, all those places. Every single week Todd and I get together. Usually have a great friend in the house like Rob. We'll record an episode, we'll drink through a number of whiskies. Hopefully there's some things you haven't had yet. Maybe you get some ideas on what you might want to purchase next. That's kind of why we do this. We hope you listen to us every single week. The best way not to miss an episode is to scroll to the top of the app you're on, hit that subscribe button. That way you'll get that notification when Todd and I drop another episode and we will get you through that next, whatever it is that you do with your headset on. We'd like to be a part of your day. Make sure you check out the Bourbon Road website. We've got all our articles on there and our podcasts are on there and our swag is on there. Anytime you buy a piece of swag, it helps get us down the road. Also, check out the Bourbon Roadies on Facebook. It's our private Facebook group. A lot of like-minded people that like to chit-chat about the shows and what they're drinking. It's a lot of fun. We hope you'll come join us there. But until the next time, we'll see you down the Bourbon Road.

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