500. The OG Returns: Randy Minnick Joins the 500th Episode Celebration

It's been a week of Mondays but the weekend's here Dust on my boots and a smile with my beard Neons humming low whether it knows our name Same old bar stools but it never feels the same We raise a glass to the miles we've made To the stories told and the dues we've paid Amber light and a crystal glow A little burn and Where the good times roll Passing bottles like a piece of soul Every pore's a memory, every sip a spark Lighting up the night in the Kentucky dirt Ain't no mail, just the ties we've sewn On the long winding bird

All right, listeners, welcome to a big episode for the Bourbon Road. This is episode 500. 500, you heard that right. That's like up there in the upper echelon. And Jim, you can even tell us the stats on that. We did some some diving on there, but who's our special guest tonight?

Well, we brought back The OG, the one and only, co-founder of the Bourbon Road, Randy Minick, episode one co-host. Welcome, Randy. Glad to have you back on the show again.

Gentlemen, I appreciate you bringing me back, and congratulations, 500 episodes. Who would have thunk it back when we first started this thing?

I know it. Yeah, and like Todd said, I did a little bit of digging into stats, and it's kind of interesting when you dig into how many Podcasts actually make it to 500 episodes and it's it's it's rare air. It's definitely rare air Like only a third of podcasts actually make it past 10 episodes. So there's a lot of you know, short runs out there. And then, you know, when you get, when you talk about top 10%, only 10% of the podcasts make it past 50 episodes. So when you get to 500, the best stats I could find is we're somewhere around the 0.1% top 99.9% of podcasts. And that's, that's pretty rare air. And what I understand the majority of those. are like daily new shows that are on daily repeats and things like that. So we're very proud to be where we are. Very happy to be where we are. And Randy, it was you and I that kicked this baby off.

Yes. Yes, it was. And I can't believe 500. It must be because there's good folk that listen to this and we have a good subject matter, I would think. Some good old bourbon.

He's just been living off those residuals this whole time, folks. I know. He still gets those checks. He still gets those checks in the mail. You guys got jokes tonight, don't you? But I did send Randy some pours and I of course gave Jim some pours. So we've got some special stuff tonight. There was kind of no rhyme or reason behind these pours. It's just, I kind of looked, well, there's one. I threw a beacon in there. We'll go ahead and do spoilers for that. Cause I knew Jim would love to have a little sample of the wild turkey beacon again. He never turns that down, but we're going to start off with the four roses, limited edition from 2022. And this was 109 proof. And I thought it had the barrel information, but we've reviewed this with our good friend, Jeff Wack, uh, some time ago, we'd went through and did a 2022, uh, through 2024 comparison some time ago. And they're all good, but this one was getting low. So I thought you guys can help me, uh, help me get some bottles killed here tonight. Oh, is this the bottom of the bottle? Uh, it's getting close. There's probably, uh, maybe three or four good more, more pores in it, I guess.

So did anybody warm up on anything tonight before we dip into this four roses?

I had some old wild Turkey earlier. I also went out to, to today or this weekend is West six farms, eighth birthday. Ah, okay.

You've been out there, Jim, a few times.

We've actually run into each other out there and then weren't aware. Yeah. Some time ago. But so they had some glass giveaways and it's just a fun place to take the kids and they can run amok in the on the farm and, you know, go to the creek and there's a little pond and it's a good place just to go and hang out. So we went out there for a little bit today.

And Randy, what did you warm up on? This Four Roses. I saw it and I said, you know, 109, come on. You know my jam, if you haven't heard before, I'm a bottled in bond guy. I've never had any bad bottled in bond. So anything around 100, 110, 90, in that zone right there is perfect for me.

Well, we're going to take you on a little higher trip, so I apologize.

I'm looking forward to that beacon for sure.

So let's hear some background. I mean, how did you guys meet in the big town of Simpsonville? Randy, were you even in Shelbyville at that time?

When we met, I think we were in Shelbyville, Jim. Our wives both worked for a long-term health care company and drug us out to a facility and a little meet and greet there. It was the first time I ever met Jim and Melody. Yeah, so I think about 14, we ended up moving to Taylorsville, actually. And I remember Jim came over to the house for New Year's Eve soiree, and there were people there that I didn't even know. I don't know how all these people got invited. You had to talk to my wife about that.

Came out to the Minic Farm.

Yeah. hobby farm out there in Taylorsville and had a little New Year's Eve soiree. I didn't think much about Jim and bourbon until I had some Blanton's sitting around and I don't know if it was you, Jim, or someone I go, I had never tried Blanton's. We all sat around and tried some Blanton's and I saw Jim drink that neat and I was like, man, that's 93. It's got that pepper on the back end and he drank that neat. This guy's for real, man. He's a hos. And so it impressed me. And so later on when Jim actually said, hey, what do you think about starting a little podcast? Jim, I'll tell you truthfully, if it had been anybody else, I probably wouldn't have because I was the director of a national nonprofit at the time and was a busy man. Trying to do some demos on the side on the weekends and whatnot. When you came with the idea, I was like, I think he's for real. We had had some flights and stuff together at some places. I was like, he's into bourbon, I'm into bourbon. Let's go do some research and see what we can do about getting some equipment and starting this thing.

If I remember correctly, Randy, you had some pretty fine bottles up on, on that top of that cabinet.

Yes. Yes. I don't even remember what all we had. Um, I was trying new stuff, you know, um, because when I first got there, I was, I was drinking, you know, Canadian whiskeys. And then I get to Kentucky and I go, Hmm, what is this basil Hayden? And so tried a little basil Hayden and then saw the horse on the plans and started started working on some different bourbons there and going, man, I really like this stuff. This is going to be my jam. And that was back, I guess, when did I first get to Kentucky? 2011, something like that there. And I have been up in the middle of it ever since. So, um, yeah, when Jim said, let's do this, I said, all right, sounds like a plan. So that was my take on it. Jim, you can, you can add what you want to you on that.

No, I seem to remember it the same way. I think we, uh, we were both loving drinking bourbon at the time and. And, uh, you had, you had some fine bottles, me, not so much. I had a few, but not, not nothing like what you had. And, uh, and now 1300 tastes later, 1300 tastings later. That's right. Yeah. But I seem to remember you being, you and your wife were really good friends with, uh, the assistant master distiller out there at Woodford.

Uh, yeah. Um, Elizabeth O'Neill McCall, um, basically was on the board of directors at Green Hill Therapy where Julie ended up working. We used to carry her horse, Kodiko, around for her. She didn't have a trailer, so we would carry Kodiko from Green Hill to where he retired and got to be some good friends. Because of that, I have probably one of the most unique dining room tables in the world, I would say, because, you know, she, she gifted us a barrel from Woodford and that started the whole thing. And now it has a foot rest on it. That's has the original rebar from the Oakrow distillery from 1860 and, and, uh, some old barn wood from the early twenties on top of it. And it's, it's a unique piece. And, uh, she, she kind of started that whole ball ball game. So. All right.

Well, let's get into this four roses here. This is the 2022 le. Oh, nice. Floral nose on it.

Sweet pops like it's namesake almost very floral.

Yep.

Some nice Barry notes in there too.

Yeah. Yeah. Maybe a little cinnamon. Why do I get cinnamon on a lot of stuff?

Because there's a little bit there. Randy, you're getting the right thing, I think. There's a little bit of cinnamon on that nose for sure. A little bit of cherry and I don't know, like fruit blossoms, right? Yeah. Yeah. Very nice.

Maybe like walking past a raspberry bush or something that's just blooming.

You like to say rose petals sometimes, but you know, rose petals have no real aroma to them. They're the one flower that doesn't really smell a whole lot.

But there is some berry or citrus or something like some, maybe some, what am I getting here?

Well, anytime you're, you're, yeah. Anytime you're tasting an Ellie, you know, you've got something special in your hand that, uh, was very carefully crafted, a fine whiskey that was composed, put together very carefully designed. This is, these are not just barrels thrown together for Rosa for roses. Ellie's are always well-composed, carefully crafted whiskeys. I love that.

How long has this been aged?

Um, Todd, you know, most of the bottles now have like the, uh, the recipe and the ages that they put in there, but this one doesn't, I could probably, you know, Google it real quick, but I would say probably 10 to 16 range, right? I mean, usually I feel like that's a good, maybe 12 to 16. I know sometimes they'll sell some 20 year old stuff in there sometimes. So Jim, the, uh, but starting the podcast with Randy, it was kind of your brainchild, right?

Yeah, I think I initially had the idea to start it and you know, I won't give the credit entirely to myself. A very good friend of both of ours, Jason Colori had the Mashed Drum Whiskey Room YouTube channel. And I was, uh, I was good friends with Jason and I really loved what he was doing. Uh, he came a couple of times and spent overnighted with us here in, in Louisville and, uh, you know, our conversations in the sunroom back there sipping on whiskey. I think I just got the idea that. You know, I don't think I want to do a YouTube video podcast. It sounds like too much work, but I could do an audio podcast. And so I would, I got to give the credit to Jason for inspiring me there. I think he gave me the idea and then Randy was. My victim.

Well, he had some technical questions. It's not a lot different, but it's different than recording music, which I try to do and have fun doing. We had some learning. It was a little learning curve for us there.

We didn't have any mentors. We didn't have anybody that said, here's the equipment you need. This is how you do a podcast. We had to figure it out from the scratch. And it was nice to have an audio engineer like Randy on the team, because he knew all the things you needed to know.

Well, I appreciate that. At that time, there probably weren't that many bourbon podcasts. I can think of probably Pursuit, Um, dad's drinking bourbon was, or they're one of those that started a little later and did multiple shows during awake.

Do you know Jim? Yeah, I don't know if dad's was around at that time yet. Uh, definitely bourbon pursuit was, uh, the, uh, ABV network was around real talk or something. Uh, I don't, maybe, man, it's terrible. I don't know. Uh, I remember the ABV network and I remember, uh, bourbon pursuit. Okay. Maybe dad's drinking bourbon, but they may have started right around the same time we did. But yeah, there was only, let's say four or five of us tops, you know, in the business at the time. So yeah, we were definitely one of the first. And it was a great time to have a bourbon podcast. Bourbon was booming. People wanted all the content they could get their hands on. And oh, Perry, Perry with This Is My Bourbon Podcast. He started back then too.

Oh yeah. Okay. Yeah. I remember that.

Um, and people were looking for content as much as they could get. So, you know, we just really started climbing the charts. I mean, we climb, climb, climb, climb, climb. We got, we were a regular in the top 100, certainly, uh, on, on Apple iTunes, but, uh, often in the top 25 or top 50. I mean, yeah, I mean, it was, it was, we were, we were, we were hot stuff. Yeah, definitely for sure.

Okay. So actually I did a quick, uh, Jim and I question and whiskey it's called whiskey cast. Okay.

And then, yeah, it started in 2000, 2005. Yeah, that's, yeah, that's, uh, I've tried to remember the fellow's name. He's out of Texas. It runs the whiskey. Mark Gillespie. Mark Gillespie. Yep. Yeah. And it's more, I've listened to that.

It's more of like a news kind of announcements and he does like announcements for Scotch and every vodka and all kinds of other stuff too. Right. Right.

Yeah. It was, uh, it was, it was, it was a thin number of podcasts back then. It wasn't a lot. And that changed very quickly. I think there was kind of an explosion that took place. Um, I would say mostly around the time for COVID.

And we didn't know about format at first. We weren't sure what, you know, what are you going to do? You know, just get on there and talk and eventually you kind of come up with a formula.

And I was going to say, you know, I did like some diving into, you know, surprisingly, you know, I've gone back and listen to those old episodes because I was one of those that popped in. I think I've told you, Jim, like you guys had Drew Hannish on and I'd really gotten into his historical podcast. So that's what got me on the Bourbon Road. I was like, oh, those guys are in Simpsonville. That's just right down the road, you know. And So I went back and listened, you know, started at the beginning and listened all the way through. And I guess I'd kind of forgotten, but Randy, you were only in 21 episodes originally, and then you came back. You couldn't stay away too much, but you came back for a couple of episodes.

I always got to visit Kentucky, man. I always had to visit Kentucky. A lot of good memories, a lot of a lot of good people there, a lot of good juice there, too.

Randy and his wife, uh, had a tremendous opportunity, uh, right around episode 20, I think it was, uh, to strike out and chase their dreams in Virginia. And, uh, and that. It was tough for the Bourbon Road. We were excited for the two of them. It was a great adventure for them and it sounded like a great opportunity. They went off to Virginia to pursue that dream. The Bourbon Road continued. We had to find another co-host. You know, we never, uh, lost contact with Randy and Julie. We, we always maintain contact with them and Randy came back several times to visit. In fact, Randy would come back every year to work in the Bourbon Road 10 at Bourbon on the Banks.

That's what I was going to say. We always put him to work is what we usually do now.

You know, good times. I get to try stuff I've never tried before, meet people I haven't met before and, and You know, if you're listening and you want something fun to do bourbon on the banks in October is just an awesome place to go and be. And it's an, I love it. I don't know if we're going to make it this year, but if we do, we'll be there.

So he just liked to stand, Randy just liked to stand in the tent and talk and have people recognize his voice and come across the tent. I hear Randy Minick.

I like standing back there pouring because you know, One for you, two for me, you know.

Anyway, but the other thing I, you know, I looked at those, went back and looked at those episodes that you were in. And I mean, it's obviously a lot different than what we're kind of doing now. I mean, you guys, it was almost like bourbon culture was your podcast kind of then, or the way it kind of started out.

I'm a history guy. I'm kind of like you a little bit. I love the history and stuff, you know, and moving here to Virginia was really neat because, you know, the first distilled Bert, I mean, first distilled liquors in the United States were you know, Berkeley Plantation right over here, and, you know, what, about 1620? And, you know, it's kind of neat because my wife is actually a descendant of Benjamin Harrison V, and Berkeley Plantation was his place. And, you know, they had distilled spirits there, George Washington going to Mount Vernon, and, you know, George had a big thing going on at one time. What was it, 11,000 gallons a year? At one time, he had the market on the steel spirits here in the United States. A lot of history with that around here too. We just can't quite get a hold of some of the stuff you guys can get there in Kentucky, but hey, we enjoy what we can get.

Love it. Well, shall we move on to port two? I know Jim's eagerly awaiting this one.

Which one is this?

We're going to go to the wild turkey beacon.

Oh my goodness.

Okay. All right. I'm excited now. All right. This was our bourbon of the year for 2025. I'm showing these guys, you guys are listening, can't see this, but it is, it's getting a little low.

Oh my goodness. Oh my goodness. Well, I got excited about this because I was able to get my hands on some voyage, some wild turkey voyage last year. And I was like, if beacons, anything like the voyage, I'm going to be enjoying this. So.

All right. Well, I'm, I'm really going to, I'm really going to love this. Now we just had the gold foil and it was a dream and we said, and we said, I bet, I think it might be better than the beacon, but now we get to go back to the beacon. And did you, did you revisit the beacon thought after having the gold?

So this is my first opportunity to do so.

So, okay. Well, there's none of that gold foil left. So you can't like go back and put them side by side. Oh, yeah. Funky. I know.

What'll happen is I'll get lucky and run across a bottle of the gold foil, but the beacon will be gone. So then I'll be, you know, back in that dilemma of not having both at the same time.

So, Todd, you need to take and archive a two ounce bottle of this for that day. Put it away.

You know, actually I do have a little archive of some things. So that's, I may have to do that, Jim. Yeah.

Don't put it in your infinity bottle. Just go ahead.

I'm loving the nose on this. It's got that, it's got that little bit of funk and you always ask the question. I think we did with the gold foil. How do they do it? How do they get that, that funky dusty kind of oaky note, uh, into these whiskies? And it's, it's a magic, it's the magical wall turkey.

They're just able to do it, but that whole warehouse, Rick house thing. Oh yeah. becomes a part of any barrel that goes in there. I feel like.

But this one has something that I think the, the gold fold did. And that's that, like that grilled orange, that burnt orange.

Yes. I was going to say, I'm getting some, some citrus and I wanted to say tangerine, but orange I think, I think is a little more like it.

Mm. A little bit of cherry. Yep. You always get the toffee on wild turkey. You always get the toffee. It's like a guaranteed kind of thing you're going to get. Typically a little bit of honey. Brown sugar.

Like you said, that orange, sometimes it's a burnt orange. Sometimes it's just kind of like a orange rind, orange peel. Yeah. Sometimes depending on where it comes from, you can get just a little bit of nuttiness. It's like a different nuttiness than say beam.

The funny thing about nosing these turkeys is you could just keep coming up with notes as you nose it, just keep putting it to your nose. You're going to come up with something else, put it back to your nose. You're going to come up with something else. It's just so layered. There's so much going on in it. I'm ready to taste it though. This is the grand surprise here. Cheers.

Cheers.

Oh my, oh my, my. That is so good. It's good. Doesn't drink its proof. I don't think it, it does not. It does not. It's right at one 18, if I remember correctly.

Oh man. That's, that is smooth for one 18. I mean, it lingers on the backend a little bit, but, um, yeah. And you pick up other stuff like maybe like, well, you said Taffy, I'm thinking toffee, but you know, what, whatever that, that kind of.

I wish I could have a candle of like this pour. Like if you could put it in a candle, this would be like the candle I would burn all the time, you know? Yes. Yes.

You got that.

Yeah. The oak is amplified on the palate. I mean, there's definitely nice dusty oak characteristics on the nose, but on the palate, the oak takes over a little bit. It even ventures into the tobacco realm a little bit.

So I know I'm known for having weird, angles that I come from. But it's almost like when you put milk on your raisin bran and you take that first bite, the way that raisin tastes a little bit on that raisin bran, it's a lot like that. Now it gets soggy after that when you eat your cereal, but this actually kind of tasted like that first little bite of raisin bran. It's sweet and it's nice.

Yeah, this was a nice balance of sweetness and then it gets a little oaky and there's a little tang. Right, right.

You know, the typical wild turkey spice. And wild turkey, every time, whether it's 101 or eight year. Oh, let me just say, I enjoyed y'all's podcast on the eight year. I had a friend of mine and I hear we bought every bottle we could find. We only got three. of that eight year. Cause I think Todd, you had said that it rounded the corners, I think is how you said it in that podcast, that eight year. And I haven't been able to get any sense, but you know, always get cinnamon from wild turkey. And I don't know why that's the, that's my main spice. I think from wild turkey.

Now, were you able to try the 70th anniversary, Randy?

Nope. No, sure haven't been.

Well, we may have to fix that if you get down this way again.

OK. Well, we're hopefully going to get there in October. So we may see if we can't do bourbon on the banks and hang out some.

Awesome. Well, one thing for sure, uh, while Turkey put a feather in their cap on, you know, the, uh, what the masters keep, right. It was called the masters keep collection. They definitely put a feather in their cap to finish off that collection. This was a fine bottle to be the final expression of that collection.

And I like this better than the Voyage, I think. It's complex. I mean, there's, like you said, Jim, you're starting, you can pick up some different stuff. Sometimes I can't put my, almost like a mint maybe, or a spear mint maybe, or something, you know, it's, it's complex.

I love it, man. As long as you're sitting around a fire with friends and things get really quiet all of a sudden. Yeah.

I, I, I do think, as I sit here and sip on this, I do think the gold, the gold foil beats it out, but, um, this is what's in my glass tonight and I'm going to savor it. This is delicious whiskey. Um, it defines wild Turkey. This is a fantastic pour and, uh, If you're listening to this and you have an opportunity to have a pour of the beacon in a bar, you're probably not going to find a bottle, but if you get a chance to have a pour in a bar, uh, do it, pay the money, have the poor, enjoy it, remember it. It's worth it.

Yes. This is one of those that, that I would spend, I would spend some money on.

Really, really good. But I do think the gold foil topped it up and you know what? I'll be honest with you, Todd. I don't think Cooper got it right. I think the beacon still tops out the, the, I mean, the beacon, uh, still beats the gold foil on our rankings.

So, okay.

I gotta have a talk to talk with Cooper, but yeah.

All right. What do you think? Should we take a break and, uh, sip on this a little longer and then come back and we've got a couple more pours and with the OG, like you said, Randy Minick.

That'd be good. I'm here. I'm here. Looking forward to it.

All right. Let's take a break. We'll come right back and we've got two more fantastic pours put together by Todd. Stick around folks. We will be right back.

We argue notes, vanilla or smoke, but it's all just part of

All right, Roadies, we finally, finally released our brand new website. We hope you get a chance to check it out at TheBurbanRoad.com. It is a total rewrite, remake, revamped. We've done it for you. We have all 500 or so episodes on there with all the details, searchable, all the show notes, everything. You can search by it. You want to go find out what we talked about on an episode way back when you can do it. We've also got our tasting notes, our reviews of over 1,320 whiskies. They're all on there. Todd and I, our tasting notes, our rating for the whiskey. We even cue up the episode on the tasting notes to where we tasted it on the show. So as you're reading our tasting notes, you can play it and listen to us talk about it. So I think we're the only podcast that does that. That's pretty cool. So another thing we have on there is our blog articles. We've got over 250 blog articles on there. We're putting new ones out all the time. And the all-new Roadie Bar is now on the Bourbon Road website. So if you're a Roadie, come on, sign up, get in there. We have a chat room. We've got a place where you can post what's going on in your Bourbon world. We have a calendar of all the events that are coming up. We'll be posting in there our drawings. So as we're giving things away, you'll be able to come in there and sign up for the randomizer to get picked. You'll also be able to sign up on lists to come to something that we're sponsoring. Todd's got a great event that we're putting on in the fall and everybody can come in and sign up for that. And we've also got coupons from our vendors for sort of percentages off on stuff. Definitely take the time to come to the website. Check it out. We do want you to come in and sign up and join in. It's a lot of fun. It's free. It doesn't cost you anything. You're certainly welcome to donate if you want to, but it's free for all roadies. So come check it out.

All right, listeners, welcome back to the second half of episode 500. And as Jim put it, we've got the OG co-host, Randy Minick with us.

No, Jim's the OG. I was just hanging in best I could.

Jim, what'd you think?

I think the first half was, uh, was, was great. Uh, 22, four roses, Ellie and the wild Turkey beacon. I mean, that's, you don't get to have those two whiskies in the same half very often. So epic first half, no doubt. Oh, yes.

I was going to say I had to bring up the big guns kind of. All right. But I think we're ready for poor three. And it is the Garrison Brothers Cowboy Bourbon. This is the 2021 release clocked in at 131.3 proof. And the reason I kind of chose this one was the Bourbon Road really opened my eyes to Texan bourbon. I think of TX and Iron Root and some of those others. And I remember coming up to record and trying a bunch of Texas stuff and it just blew my mind and kind of my palate because it's a, you know, Texas bourbon is a whole different Beast, if you will.

So it's definitely its own category. It definitely has its own flavor profile and, uh, they do things big in Texas. They also do things hot in Texas and, and these Texas bourbons, they can be both big and hot.

But let's dive in on this nose. I think you said you had this on episode two 40 45.

Yeah. Yeah. We, we had this on, uh, it's been a while. It's been a while back, but this is the cowboy bourbon.

Uh, yeah, this is an annual release. This is, uh, the kind of the cream of their cream of the crop for, uh, garrison brothers.

So, so you want another weird perspective on this? You know what I'm getting right off the bat? Let's hear it. It's almost like graham cracker, almost like a smore, a smore. You know what I'm saying? Like, like I'm sitting around the fire and, and you take your first bite of that smore, you know?

Oh, it gives me like a candy, candy pecans.

Yeah. Yeah. That would work. Wow. I, Randy, I think you nailed it with the s'mores.

I like that graham cracker thing too though. That's great.

Yeah. Um, you know, cause it's almost like there's a hand of chocolate, but the marshmallow, the marshmallow that, that has the, um, yeah, I don't know what the char is on the barrel here. Probably a three or four, right? And, and, you know, it's almost like the stick got stuck in the fire and, um, the marshmallow got a little burnt and.

I think in Texas they can go like char and a half and get color out of it though, right?

Yeah. Yeah. This is definitely overcooked caramel. Um, cinnamon. What, what is, is toffee like overcooked caramel kind of, I don't even know what toffee is to be honest with you. I don't know how you make toffee, but I know what it tastes like. I think it's closely related, but it's a little different.

I think. Yeah. I don't want to say this is like when you cook something with toffee, like that kind of burnt edges of it. Yeah.

Yeah. Like when you get brittle and brittle can get a little burnt sometimes, you know, this I'm looking at this time is so dark. You almost call it black water. I mean, it's really dark.

Yes, it is actually. Hmm.

Oh, that's a wonderful, wonderful note.

It takes me back to Georgia and Sorghum almost, you know, like a molasses, but it's not regular molasses. It was, this would have to be just like some of the raw stuff, you know?

Yeah. You know, when you burn a marshmallow and you get that black skin off the outside, right? I mean, it's there. No doubt. If you make a s'more with a black skin marshmallow. This is what you're getting. Randy, you called that note out early with that s'more. I just think it's got that black burnt skin marshmallow on it.

I don't know. Bourbon takes me to a place sometimes, you know, an experience maybe, you know, and it just reminds you or reminds me of, of sitting around the campfire. This would be one I'd want around the campfire, you know, maybe a cigar. This would probably go very good with a cigar, too.

I think it probably would. It would stand up well to a cigar, like a Maduro.

A Maduro wrap, yeah.

So Randy, what were some of those favorite moments of yours in those 21, 23 episodes?

Well, I was thinking about that because I was going back through some of that. I think one of my favorite episodes was we were supposed to be over at Woodford talking to Elizabeth, and Chris Morris walks in. So now we're getting a twofer. He was one of those called in when they went to rebuild George Washington's distillery. And to sit and listen to him and Elizabeth talk about that because they had found, I guess, a piece of paper that had the recipe on it somehow or, you know, the match bill or whatever. And I will say this about that. I didn't really care for the white dog per se, you know, what they were putting out from George Washington's thing. But as I went and visited, you know, his place, Mount Vernon there, and went into the little bar at the restaurant. They're aged. They took that same formula and aged it, and it was excellent. Excellent. And if you ever get to Mount Vernon, go in and try the actual aged recipe from there. It was amazing to me. But that episode, he just kept coming up with stuff and I was just sitting there with my mouth open amazed. To me, it was one of the more memorable ones. Of course, I didn't have as many as you guys, but of the ones that I actually got to be part of.

Now you remember, Randy, you remember when Elizabeth McCall took us out to the Woodford Rick house and we crawled through the ricks and she went and found those barrels deep in the bones of that Rick house and drilled them for us. And, and we tasted that. chocolate malt whisper for the chocolate whisper for the first time. And she explained to us that it was a grand mistake and they had 60 barrels that started with literally no chocolate notes and ended with no chocolate notes, but they gradually got stronger in between right around the 30th barrel. They were the strongest. And then they took all that and they made that, uh, that release, which was, uh, what was it called?

The whisper something chocolate whisper and then they came out with that second one, the redux, which the redux, like one 37 proof for them, which is kind of mind blowing.

Yeah, actually we had some good times. We, we got to do some pretty fun stuff. I remember. Uh, Randy and I did an episode with Bo Garrett and then, uh, a lot of fun. And then, uh, but it was the same day that David Jennings was in town in the same building. And he was having, he had all his, uh, renegades there and they were having a big tasting and they had 30, 40 bottles of, uh, dusty turkeys laid out on the, remember that?

that on that second floor of that, that, um, building down downtown Lexington there.

Oh yeah. We sat there and tasted through all those cheesy gold falls and beyond duplications and oh, it was fantastic.

And I want, I want some wild turkey cufflinks that I still have to this day that day. So anyway, no, it was, I, we had a good time.

Um, man, but it was trivia for you both. You ready? Yeah. Who was your first guest? Do you remember?

Who was our first guest? Let me think. I want to say, what was his name with the grill?

You're thinking Noah Glanville? Was that his name? The pit guy? The pit guy, yeah, the pit master.

That was actually the second episode. Okay. So that wasn't the first. Nope.

That was a pretty good guess. Okay. I'm doing the best I can here for an old man, Todd. Sorry. Oh, let me say. This guy was the chef though.

Oh, David Danielson.

Oh, Chef D. That was, that was, man, D.

Was he our first guest? Wow.

He was a big hitter to be our first guest. And I enjoyed his place there in Simpsonville. Jim, I don't know about you, you know, it's when COVID hit, it kind of, he swiped, did he swipe the bartender from, from Seabock or somewhere? And the bartender made some of the best, uh, old fashions you'd probably ever have. And the food was great at his restaurant. And just talking to him was awesome because at the time, you know, he was the head guy at Churchill Downs.

So the head chef at Churchill Downs and he was also the head chef for the PGA tournaments for the Olympics. Oh yeah, he did all the big things. But yeah, he was a great bourbon lover though. He loved whiskey, he loved bourbon.

He was the first guest. First guest, oh my goodness, okay.

OK, but do you remember another trivia question? What was your first episode, though? So that was actually, I guess, counting the trailer, which I guess does it get counted as episode one? I wonder.

I mean, it is episode one, but I mean, is it really? Yeah, no, probably not.

We're not going to do a 500 part B or anything. So but do you guys remember what you did in the first episode? Drink bourbon. Oh, I'm sorry.

Was it something else? I don't know.

I don't remember. That's correct. So Randy, you do enterprise.

Okay.

But do you remember what kind of bourbon? And you actually brought it up a little earlier. Bottled and Bond.

Oh, yeah. Oh, I remember. It was a bottle and bond episode, Randy. And you, you, you, you schooled everybody on the bottle to bond act. I remember that.

Oh, but, but you guys got to understand that's to me, that's, that's right. I understand you guys like a lot of the hotter stuff, but to me, a bottle and bond, it's almost like this, the standard. And I, like I said, I've never had a bad bottle and bond. I never have. It's hot enough to give you a nice, rich profile, but not so hot that the Kentucky Hug don't want to let go, you know?

Yeah.

If you know what I'm saying. So, wow, okay, Baldwin Bond. Man, you guys are taking me back a ways. I remember that.

But yeah, you guys had the Woodford Reserve, Baldwin Bond, and the very old Barton, Baldwin Bond, it says here. Oh, Barton. But let's run through a few other. Let's see. You had, like I said, Noah Glanville. He was a pit barrel guy. Right. You had David Jennings, like you said, the Lexington Bourbon Society. I believe that was when Barry Brinegar.

That rye they had that day, let me just say. Oh my God. I had never tried a rye until Jim, Jim's the rye guy. I was more of a traditional guy, more corn. Jim turned me on to the rye. The Wilderness Trail, the Carters with their rye and that number, I love number three, you love number four, but when Barry pulled out, Whatever, whatever ride they had that day. Um, it blew my mind because it was orange.

It was orange. It was big time orange. I remember that. Oh man.

It was a knob Creek. That sounded right. Barrel pick.

Or was it the wilderness trail ride? No, it was a wilderness trail, wilderness trail, high ride. Yeah, it was a single barrel that they picked, if I remember correctly. Barry and his team picked a single barrel from wilderness trail and they ended up, it was like a four year old rider, five year old ride. I mean, it was not very old. But it has these deep orange candy characteristics to it.

I can still remember tasting that, Randy. Yeah. You know, those, those little orange slice kind of things that you get in, in, in the bags and the candy, candy aisle, sugar coated one. Yes. It was, I see you bringing back the memories now that much neurons are firing.

Yeah. Okay. Continue on. You were actually, you brought up Mark and Sherry Carter. They were the next episode. You guys tried some, like, those are some hot dollar bottles now in the way of the world. I can imagine.

I got Lilac on that number three that day right off the bat. I don't know why. Sometimes some stuff will hit me, you know, and Jim was like, man, I kind of like the number four better because they gave us both, you know. Anyway, yeah, what a great episode. And I had never been in the Seabock before either, you know, Seabock Hotel. And so we got to sit around in nice little chairs.

Yeah, it was. I enjoyed it. Great episode. All right. Then you had a Q&A from listeners episode. I guess you had the roadies page back then, right? Is that how you got the question?

So, Jim, I have a question for you because you're the one who came up with the roadies idea.

Yeah.

He said, what? Cause I remember me going, Hey, what do you think about calling them the roadies? And I was like, you know, I've been a roadie before. Yeah. I like that idea. You know, um, used to it in music, but Hey, let's do it in bourbon too. So, um, the roadies, how many roadies do we have nowadays?

It's like 32, 31. 31, 3200. Yeah. I mean, it's kind of leveled out, but are you kidding me? Really? Yeah.

Yeah. Man. That's incredible. You guys, man. Wow. Talk about a snowball headed downhill.

You know, it's funny when you're talking through these episodes, Todd, it kind of brings back these memories. I can remember this whole first six months or a year that Randy and I, well, it's probably six months that we went through. I mean, we did, we did, uh, yeah, 20 episodes. And during that time we really bounced around. We touched a lot of different types of people. We had, we had a good time. We really had a lot of fun. We got to. We probably had more variety in that first 20 episodes than we've had since, just trying to bounce around. We were, we were finding our way, right? We were finding our footing, I think.

Right, right. And that's what I say, is you're a little more like bourbon culture oriented than, I mean, now we're like, we get the distillers on and we've had a few things, but I mean, they also send us so many things to review, it's like hard to keep up with sometimes. Well, people don't realize.

Let's keep on going down memory lane then, all right? Yeah. All right, let's do it.

The Whiskey Blind that was with Jason Colori, Scott Page and Dusty Dan, right?

Oh, that was so much fun. Dusty Dan. Dusty Dan. Dan won it.

Dan won it, right? I didn't take a look, but...

I think Dan won the day. I think he did too, but that'd be fun to go back and listen to now. Right. Let's see. Yeah. He had, he had the Scooby snacks poor. He had a Scooby snacks, bottle pick, barrel pick. That Scooby was good.

You followed that up with Chris, Chris Zabroski. He was from Westport, uh, whiskey.

Yeah. Yeah. Westport whiskey and wine. They had, uh, Chris was, uh, an amazing, amazing, uh, guest to have on me. He was a barrel pick. Legend at the time.

And then Mertz cakes.

Oh yeah. She was making cakes for the Jockeys. Yeah. She was making cakes for the Jockeys there at Churchill Downs. Actually they would, they would order their cakes from her. You had bourbon air tours.

Okay. The band Whiskey river. Yeah. Oh, they were great. They've been on more than once actually.

Okay. Brian Harrah, Bourbon Justice.

Yep. Yes. And I think Brian now, and I kind of agree, wasn't he the one, Jim, that basically said that he thought for the price point. the heaven hill six year, um, bottling bond. He thought was, and you know what? I can't say that I can refute that for the price point. That was probably some of the best bourbon that I've ever had. And if I could ever get a hold of any more of that heaven hill six year, do you remember what the price point was? It was like $17.99 or something. It was $11. Are you kidding me? That stuff was, to me, was incredible. And the seven years, good y'all, but I think that, man, I still love that six year.

I still have a few bottles that six year.

Well, we may have to talk.

I think I have a couple too still. You gave me one. So then you had Mark Klein. He was a comedian.

Yeah, it was a funny episode because I should hope so.

The guy's a comedian.

So, yeah, it's not funny to you. Well, let me tell you, it was funny for a different reason. So, uh, he is the, he is known as the, the bourbon comedian, the whiskey comedian. So he, he's like, his whole show is about whiskey and bourbon, right? So we had him on. But at the core of things, The Bourbon Road is a whiskey drinking show, right? There are different kinds of podcasts, but we're a podcast where we drink whiskey on the air. Well, Mark Klein, funny as he was, did not drink whiskey, did not drink at all.

He was a teetotaler, yeah. He was a teetotaler. And so Jim and I are just drinking, listening, laughing at his jokes anyway, yeah. But he wouldn't drink with us, but that's all right. That was kind of funny. That's funny. Yeah.

All right. And then you guys actually brought this one up to Elizabeth McCall episode where Chris popped in.

Yeah, that was incredible. Yeah.

And then you had an under $20 bourbon bottle blind challenge. You remember that one?

I do remember that was, that's the first time we had Mike on the show, right? Yeah.

That's what I thought. Yep. All right, and then you had Pat Heist and Shane Baker, Wilderness Trail. Yep. Oh yeah, Wilderness Trail episode. Then the Bo Garrett episode, which you brought up. We need to get him back on, I think.

Maybe we can get him to bring some more gold for us. Bo was supposed to play guitar on a song of mine called Blondes and Bourbon. And I ended up almost severing my thumb, and a bunch of stuff happened. So he didn't actually get to play on that particular tune, but he had told me he would. So anyway, old Bo.

And then your last episode, well, during your co-hosting days was some big news while tasting three bourbons. And that was, again, you had big chief Mike Hyatt on there and you guys tasted some stuff. Yeah, a little trip down memory lane there for you guys.

Oh, it's so fun. I haven't gone back to those first 20 or so episodes and really looked in such a long time. But you know what? They're burning my memory, Randy. I remember every single one of them in detail. They were so much fun. They were the core of what got us started.

Well, and that's true. And here we are 500, you guys, 500 episodes later. But I have a question for you, both of you. What was your most memorable pour? Yeah.

You want to answer that first chamber or you want me? Because, well, I might bring up that double foil.

Let's not say it was the best pour. Let's just say your most memorable pour. Most memorable pour. Oh my goodness.

On the show or just in general?

Well, you know, would it have to be the show? Because my, actually, my most memorable one was not on the show. OK. Um, but, but I wanted to post that and you guys have tried a lot more purpose than I have. And that's why I wanted to pose that question to you. You know, what most memorable poor.

Well, you know, the problem I have with being my age is that I don't have a great deal of memory anymore. I start to forget things and a lot of that stuff has gone forever. I'll never, I'll never regain it. But, um, I think probably. The most memorable pour, I think it was the day that we drilled barrels with Elizabeth McCall and we caught that chocolate whisper in the air as it shot out of the barrel. And she just, she didn't tell us what was going to happen. She didn't say anything to us. And I just remember the, oh my gosh, when it hit my palate.

Yeah, I wasn't expecting that. I was not expecting that.

It was like, and she got such joy out of watching our faces when we did that. So yeah, I think something, something like that, where it's not just the whiskey, but it's the experience, right? It's the, it's what was going on at the time. And it was not, it was you and it was I. Who else was there? Jason Corey was there. Um, there were a few of us. We had half a dozen guys there that day. It was a lot of fun. And, and we got to taste something that was, you know, remarkable and unexpected.

And yeah, that not a lot of people would be able to taste. Yeah. You know, so.

All right, for me, I'm going to bring him up again. And that's Dusty Dan. We kind of like we chatted. He would follow him on YouTube and things. And he somehow he found out my grandfather worked at Oh Crow. And after the war, he started there in 1951. And worked there until it pretty much closed. He was a World War Two vet. And Dan sent me a pour of a 1951 Okro. Wow. Just kind of out of the blue. I didn't ask for it or anything like that, you know, and just tasting that. just kind of plucked the heartstrings, and it was just an amazing experience. And it sent me down the dusty road, if you will, too, which we've talked about a little bit. Dan's gonna do that to you. Yeah, but that was kind of amazing.

But Old Crow, I mean, I know it's bottom shelf now, but you know, Mark Twain drank it. Ulysses S. Grant drank it, you know, cause when he was winning battles from Lincoln, Lincoln goes, tell me what this general is drinking. Cause I'm buying all my generals a barrel of this stuff. Right. Um, um, Truman drank Old Crow. And so, um, in its time, it was, it was, uh, it was the go-to.

All right, Todd. So we're ready to move on to, yeah.

This is the big boy. Oh boy. This is an Augusta Buckner's 13 year old single barrel. And I don't think they, I mean, they're under NDA, but you can pretty much guess what it, where it came from. This is 138.6 proof. I grabbed this. up there when I did the pick with Jason Chloe to make, you know, make a full circle, if you will. So this is most likely Barton distilled. And this is one of those like, yeah, this is, there's not much left. So.

You guys are getting down, you're getting down to the bare minimum there. It's time.

You guys are helping me get rid of this bottle. So that's why that one's poured. And it's, it's a, it's a good nightcap because she's a big girl, if you will.

Hey Randy, we're getting his dregs.

I'm thankful because you know, I don't get that over here.

Oh man. That's a, what's, what's the proof on this? Cause it's up there. 138.6. Yeah, I could feel it on my nostrils. I could feel it on my nose hairs.

I was going to say, I just lost a couple of nose hairs right there, Justin.

It's kind of crazy how higher proof Barton can get. I mean, you'll see a lot of those older single barrels. And I've seen, like, they actually had a couple of hazmat there that were just, I tried them before and before buying this one. And they were just, yeah, they were hot to be hot. But this one had a nice cherry note.

Very much cherry. This is very, yeah, I'll call this very cherry. Very cherry, very oaky, very cherry.

But, but there's still some spice like a, I don't know, like a, like a clover ginger or something in there somewhere too, you know?

Yeah. And you know what? I think, Randy, I think, I think ginger's probably right. Ginger, cinnamon, cherry. clove.

Those kind of classic notes with that rich cherry. Yeah.

Yeah. Dark fruit for sure. You know, right. Plum even maybe, I don't know. Yep. Dark fruits.

We haven't had this one on the show yet, have we? I don't think so. Yeah.

This is like an amped up, uh, what do you, the Barton foolproof.

A little bit of tobacco and, uh, like a cherry red, like a cherry red man or something.

Yep.

You don't want to go beach nut nut. Beach nut. There you go. Beach nut. It's been too many years, Todd.

I would just be saying words. When I was a softball player, I was, if I was having to chew, it was a red man though. I wasn't a beach nut nut. Cheers guys. Cheers. Cheers. Randy. Thanks for coming on buddy.

No, I appreciate it. And I really do. Um, I, uh, We need to toast you guys and 500 episodes and all the roadies who keep hanging in there with us. I didn't realize that we've got some roadies that are actually rather talented. Even Jim's talented. He hadn't told you, oh, I guess. Even Jim. No, no. I mean, but I didn't expect this out of you. Your book is awesome, dude. I think it's going to be great when you get that thing done. Well, thank you. A lot of talented roadies out there. Doug's art, man, he just keeps getting better and better. Wait, he sent you a preview copy? I haven't even seen that. Remember, I'm the OG.

Yeah, I needed some alpha readers. I needed some people to read the book early on. OK.

Co-host favoritism, I guess.

Yeah. You're dead on. That thing is going to be great, Jim. So, Randy, you've been in Virginia for how long now? Since 19.

19. So have you kind of like gone out to, you talked about George Washington story. So I assume you've been there. Have you been to any other kind of cool places or fun places that have piqued your interest?

As far as, well, you know, I've been trying to do the president's homes, you know, but as far as distilleries go, you know, I still think as far as what I can taste here in Virginia, Bowman's still probably my favorite here in Virginia. I'll just say that. And they're not paying me, I'm not getting a check, Todd, so, you know, anyway. But of the ones that I've tried, you know, Ragged branches is good, and it's solid. But of all the ones that Bowman's still, it's probably the biggest, but it's still my favorite anyway, as far as that kind of thing goes. I hated to leave, but when you live a mile from the Appalachian Trail, two miles from the Blue Ridge Parkway, and three miles up the road from the tallest cascading waterfall east of the Mississippi. I sit back on my back deck and listen to the coyotes howl, watch the eagles teach their young how to fly. It's just awesome living up here. Winters are hard. We have a lot of people come here. There's more different kinds of deciduous trees than anywhere in the country. The falls here can be very beautiful. You don't get one or two hues. You get five different hues. You don't have just this one oak or two oaks. You've got every kind of oak you can think of and chestnut and walnut and sycamore. Anyway, it's incredible.

Yeah, Randy literally lives on top of a mountain. And if you decide that you want to go down off the mountain to go to the store, it's 20 minutes to come down the mountain. Minimum.

20 to the mountain. Now, I have a friend who claims he made it in 11 minutes, but I was not in the vehicle, so I cannot say that that actually happened. But all I know is he was taking his life into his hands if he did that.

Yeah, beautiful place. Well, you gave us a nice John Muir moment.

Yeah. Still love Kentucky. You know, I always have a special place in my heart.

I'm going to turn the tables here for a moment. I'm going to turn the tables on Todd just for a moment here. Randy, you have listened to the new song. Our listeners have heard the new song in the intro to the show tonight. What do you got to say to Todd, Mr. Todd, the composer of that great song, the Bourbon Road?

I like it. I thought it was, as somebody who's done a little bit of music, I think that it's a very good song and I can hear parts of it that I would use for anthro. The lyrics are definitely right in the vein there. Very good job, dude. I appreciate it.

My hope is Billy Strings will take it and run with it.

I'm trying to get Blondes and Bourbon to Brantley Gilbert or Jason Aldean or the Luke's out there. I can understand. But, uh, good job. And so, so all your roadies out there, you know, from, is it from here on out? Is that going to be the new theme song jam?

That's the theme song for this point on forward. We've had, this is our third theme song. Yeah. This is our third theme song. And I think this one will stick for awhile. Yeah.

But great job and gentlemen, congratulations on 500 episodes and, uh, You know, a great roadie clan.

We'll see you episode a thousand, is that right? Sound good?

You know, if I'm alive, I guess. Go ahead and pencil that in. When is that going to be?

So let's figure this. Let's do some drunk math here. So let's just round it off. 50 episodes a year. We got to go 500. That's 10 years. Let's see. I'll be 73 Randy. I don't know.

You're not going to say, you know, I'm old enough to remember when there was just black and white for the colors of the rainbow. So, um, you know, yeah. Um, I should make it. I think I'm going to make it. So.

We'll still be drinking bourbon and listening to the bourbon road. We may not be on air at that time, Todd, but we'll still be cheering you on, buddy.

Okay. Well, in 10 years from now, let's see, I'll be 67.

I'll be 75.

I might be ready to pass the torch.

That's what you do. You pass the torch. You keep going. That's right.

But cheers to 500 and cheers to 250 for the United States. I mean, that's, that's an awesome accomplishment there as well. So, um, um, cheers all around.

All right, Todd, it's been a great show. Thank you for doing this. Thank you for, uh, Randy, for coming on and enjoying our 500th with us and reminiscing a little bit. It's a lot of fun. We've had a great time and we've had some great whiskeys tonight. No doubt. We're not going to do winter with a chicken dinner because we all know how it would finish up.

There would be a clear number one, I think. Right. I kind of think so. Yeah. Any doubt, Todd?

Um, maybe I kind of like, I mean, beacon. Yeah. Yeah. It's speaking.

Yeah. I think it's big beacon would be my choice too. I did. I did really enjoy that for, I mean, all of them were good. Let's, let's just be honest. Um, really good choices, Todd.

But Hey, actually what we might have to do, Randy is we'll get to some, this is your big bottle and bond guy. We'll have to, uh, if we'll get a bunch of those in, we'll have to, Drag you on and we'll do a bottle and bond tasting. You know, I'm ready for that.

I'll be ready.

We'd love to have you back on, though. That sounds great. And again, I appreciate you jumping on with us. I wanted to, you know, we're at where we're at because you were a big part of the start.

I mean. Yeah, because Jim bent my arm behind my back and made me do this. So, you know, that's why we're here. Yeah, right.

Anyway, but now enjoy it. Lots of fun, great time, great whiskeys tonight. Cheers to 500. And, uh, well, we'll see how far we can go. All right, folks, you can find the bourbon road on all social media outlets. You can find us on Instagram, Twitter, YouTube, tech talk, Facebook threads, all those places. But you know where the number one place is you can find us. the bourbonroad.com we got the roadie bar on there we hope every single listener will visit the bourbonroad.com come on in sign up come to the roadie bar hang out with us it's free you don't have to pay anything we're not charging you any money come in there and play play with us have a good time share some stories share some pictures um make sure you step up to the bar and talk to cooper uh definitely get into this uh next Uh, randomizer Todd's going to be putting up. We've got another randomizer coming here real soon. All of our events are in there where we're going to be, where we're going to be hanging out, what we're going to be doing. It's all there at the bourbonroad.com. Make sure you come check it out. If you're listening to us on your favorite podcast app, make sure you scroll to the top of that app, hit that subscribe button. That way every week you'll get a reminder that Jim and Todd have dropped another episode. We'd love to have you along for the ride. We're always drinking whiskey and we're always having fun. But until the next time, we will see you down the Bourbon Road.

On the bourbon road where the good times roll Passing bottles like a piece of soul Every pore's a memory, every sip a spark Lighting up the night in the Kentucky dark Yeah, we laugh too loud, let the worries go Find a little truth in the afterglow Ain't no man Just the ties we've sewn on the long winding bourbon line Here's to the nights that turned into dawn To the friends who stayed when the rest moved on To the clink of glass and the stories spun And the quiet peace when the night is done On a bourbon road we ain't alone Every mile's marked by the love we've known From barrel to bottle to the hearts we hold there's a fire that never gets old so pour it up let the moment slow a little bit of life in every glow yeah forever we'll call this home on the long winding