65. Bourbon Road Sample Night with Randy Minnick

Now, Mike, I saw you take the last little bit of that there and you decided to pour a little water in it. Cause it's 145 proof. I had to proof it down a little bit. You proved it down to about 15. I was going to say he did.

It was three quarters of that Glencairn one.

I made a white claw. Yeah. I tell you what, that was, uh, that was a bit of proving water there. I've never seen anybody add that much. So you had maybe a sip left and you added about three ounces of water.

Welcome to another trip down the Bourbon Road with your hosts, Jim and Mike. So grab a glass of your favorite bourbon and kick back.

We would like to thank Tommy and Gwen Mitchell from Log Heads Home Center for supporting this episode of the Bourbon Road. Find out more about their fine rustic furniture at logheadshomecenter.com. Hello, everybody. I'm Jim Shannon. I'm Mike Hyatt. And this is the Bourbon Road. And today, Mike, we're at Jeptha Bend Farm.

Yeah, we're out here in our studio. Bourbon Road? 1B. 1B. You brought somebody over here special, huh? And somebody that our listeners have been asking to come back on said, hey, can you get him back on there? And magically, you brought him over tonight. That's right. I'm not believing that, but whatever.

Randy, welcome back to the Bourbon Road.

Thank you, guys. It is good to be back. Good to be back in the great state of Kentucky. We miss our old Kentucky home, just have to say. I'm not going to say tears flowed when we hit the border, but buddy, the grass is green here and we sure miss it. up there on the mountains in Virginia. And of course, while we're here, we've gotta load up, get the good stuff. You gotta load up on bourbon shopping. Yeah, man, before you go back. And so anyway, yeah, proud of you guys and what you've been doing. We've been keeping track of you there and the bourbon roadies. Hey, welcome to you guys too, because that group has really grown since I left. So good job, is all I can say.

Well, it's been a fun ride. There's no doubt about it. And, you know, the roadies has been a real treat. It's been a real treat by those guys.

Well, you know, the Bourbon community, it was that way even when I left is a lot of good folks and come together and, hey, I got something. You guys need to try this, you know, and a lot of sharing and caring, I guess you could say, as far as the roadies go, too. So, man.

So, Mike, with that in mind, what are we doing today?

Well, we both had a whole bunch of sample bottles and we've had people send some sample bottles and we just haven't had a chance to get it. You know, we had kind of the turnover from Randy to me and then, um, then we had our holiday break and then we went straight into COVID-19 and we just, there's been a busy, it's been a busy year. 2020 is halfway over.

Yeah.

So yeah, but we got these sample bottles and we got a Ryan Sadler, one of our roadies. He sent us a pack and that's what we're going to, we're going to start drinking on those first.

And Ryan, we're, we're awful sorry it took us so long to get around to these, but we're going to enjoy them today with Randy and. Hey, looking forward to it, man. Big shout out, Ryan. Thank you so much.

The first one we hear has is from Smoke Wagon, Desert Jewel, 10 year, 104 proof. If you don't know where Smoke Wagon is out in Las Vegas, right now he's sourcing his whiskey. I believe it's MGP juice is what you said, Jim. Right. So what's the name of this again? Smoke Wagon. Smoke Wagon.

I love the name.

So you're expecting a little smoke on the nose there?

You know, I would think that there would be something.

Well, I'm getting that itch, Mike. Let's move on. What do you think? It's killing me over here. I've actually wanted to try this Desert Jewel for a while. I've seen people talk about it, drink it, and it's just, man, let's do it. All right. Man, that's some good stuff. Desert jewel for sure. Yeah. You know what? That's a sweet spice like a, I'd expect something out of a desert like that.

Yeah, I'm getting the spice on the back end, but when I first, when, you know, first hit it, it was almost creamy.

Yeah.

You know, almost like a, I was like, wow, that's almost like biting into a vanilla cream chocolate. And then you get that spice on the back end. Yeah.

Have you ever, you guys ever get, uh, go to Costco and get those, um,

Cashew clusters. Oh yeah. You had those before? Yes.

You ever had those Mike? Oh yeah. So you know when you get to the bottom of the bag and it's nothing but like crumbs.

This is it.

Yeah, I would kind of go with Randy and I'm thinking almost like a pepper jelly mixed with a cream cheese.

There you go. That like, like a Gouda or something.

Yeah. Yeah. I've seen it had Gouda with that, like pepper jelly in it too. It's pretty good. What's, what's the cheese?

Is that smoked Gouda? Just, just regular old. Not Gouda. I think a Brie.

Brie. Yeah. It has that heart and then that soft center in inside there, man. Yeah.

Yeah, but I'm getting some kind of praline or something in this. Like a little nut cluster. A sweetened nut with some drizzle on it. That's why I said those cashew clusters. It's the first thing that came to my mind.

Pecan, I think might be... Pecan, it is definitely not cashews. Pecan is what I'm getting. Yeah, it's pecans. Or pecan. I can tell Randy really missed the bourbon roll. Oh, you guys just don't know.

He emptied his glass.

You guys just don't know that one. That was good. Good job, Ryan. That one was a specialty for sure.

That's a treat, Mike, no doubt. Yeah, I've seen him post. He's big on social media. He's doing lots of giveaways from his distillery always. You know, people talk about it. He dips and he has a spit cup. He gave a spit cup away the other day, but he sent a bottle with a spit cup.

Was it empty?

Yeah, I'm hoping he didn't send spit in it. But he sent a bottle with it. I think he sent a hat. He's always sending people out to some of his product out. And you know, that's that bourbon way, right?

Yeah, that's what I'm saying, the bourbon culture. And since we way back over a year ago when this thing first started, the people have just been fantabulous.

And I'm in search of a bottle now. I had zero bottles on my list for the moment because things have been a bit slow.

But you're ready for this smoke later?

I just added a bottle to my list, yeah. We'll see if we can get him to hook the bourbon road up. But that's what sucks is I'm not...

here. I'm going to have to come back more often. It comes slumming sometimes. I'll tell you.

Well, Randy, I'll tell you what, if you send me your address, not so I'm stocky or anything, but I just got four cases of sample bottles and I'll send you some.

Do I have to work hard and do tasting notes on all this big chief?

Yeah, you don't have to do nothing. You just enjoy it. Get up on that mountain and get close to God.

I'm going to tell you what, and we're close. There are times when we are up in the clouds. So it's, I don't know, it's just majestic. We have a pair of eagles that are nesting near us and hey, a little sip of bourbon never hurts.

Mike, what's next on our list? So I've pulled two out of here, and I don't know how I pulled two out that I really wanted to try this too. And I was actually doing research today on which distilleries I wanted to talk to for our craft distillery series. And Wiggle out of Pennsylvania. Is it Weigel? Weigel? It should be.

It's one G, right? Yeah. It should be Weigel. I don't know. Hell, I'm from Texas. Is it an I or Y?

It's W-I-G-L-E. Weigel. Weigel? I'm going Weigel. I'm going to go Weigel because I think the double G is where you get the wig.

And if we're wrong, Mr. Weigel, give us a call. So they're out of Pennsylvania. This is a weeded whiskey. Oh boy, this is up your alley right here, isn't it? Yeah, it's 84 proof. I'm a two year old, but I've wanted to try this. You know, weeded whiskey, that is right up my alley. Heck, I think I drank a half a bottle of weeded whiskey the other night. down at the campfire. So, I'm excited about this, Jim.

What was that you were drinking down at the campfire, Mike? Well, I drank that Woodford Reserve.

That wheat whiskey? Wheat whiskey. How is that? I haven't tried the Woodford Weedy. Well, we'll send you home with a bottle.

You just saved him from saying chicken cock on air. Well, no, we did have, we did.

So somebody brought over a bottle, a new bottle of the chicken cock and it has that chicken wire on the bottle, you know, the design. Oh, I got you. And it was brand new. We brought it over and I think that bottle left, there was only a quarter left in that bottle, but we had like seven bottles of whiskey down at the creek. So we, we had a little bit of everything down there for everybody. We had a bottle ride from wilderness trail. We had that wilderness trail ride. I was trying to think what else we had down there. Pork butt. We did have some pork butt. I smoked some pork butt and it actually had cabin steel in it.

Well, if you've never had any of Mike's meat, when he gets to smoking, no, it's good stuff. Okay, that sounded bad, didn't it? I'm sorry.

That's a nice pour, Randy. Oh, thank you, sir. All right, we're having to reach across the room. We're doing proper social distancing here. It seems like we're right next to each other.

Well, you know what I noticed that was interesting? I've had friends that had COVID, you know, and then recovered. But all of my friends that drank bourbon, none of them have gotten this stuff so far. Let's knock on wood. But no one I know that has that drinks bourbon. has got COVID yet, so.

Now, Mike, you live three miles out of Country Road here. Is that about right? Three miles from White Castle. OK, so three miles out of Country Road. I mean, you can drive all the way from White Castle to your house, and a lot of times you won't even pass one car. Sometimes you do, but sometimes you don't even pass a single car. Most times, usually a tractor. Well, there was a fellow walking down the road with a skateboard about halfway down wearing a mask. Really? On the country road.

Out here in God's country with a mask on. Might catch that COVID out here from a cow.

His mommy said you cannot go out of the house without that mask on. Shouldn't make fun of him. He's doing what he thinks right.

Well, that's it. Everybody do what you need to do. Stay safe. Wow. This is sweet on the nose.

I don't know what that nose is. That's maple syrup.

I'm catching something else though.

Yeah. There's a corn sweetness there, but it's heavier. Yeah. Well heck, let's taste this. Had a little bite on the back of the pallet there, don't it? I don't think there's any bite at all. No, not after that. On the sides? I got it up top on the right.

Did you?

Yeah. But it wasn't much. Repeat, Mike, what is this?

This is Weigel. Weigel Pennsylvania wheat whiskey.

Okay. This is sweet. It's soft up front. Yes, it is. But it introduces itself with a little more aggression on the back, I think.

I was going to say the mid-pallet starts picking things up there a little bit.

I'm getting a little bit of, after the second sip of it, I get a little bit of pepper on the back end, but not anything close to that smoke wagon. You know, 84% it's not going to, or 84 proof, it's not going to be super spicy, I don't think. And it's a wheat, so softer grain. Yeah, real smooth though.

This has got a little bit of bitterness on it, but not, not enough to make me say, I don't like it. It's sweet. I think it might be said it's so sweet on the front that by the time it gets to the back and that pepper hits you to get a little bit of bitterness with it. I don't know.

I would think this is a, what's that? What's the lollipop that the owl licks on? Tootsie pop. Tootsie pop? Yeah.

Tootsie roll pop, whatever. You know, like one of the chocolate ones.

I'd probably sit and drink a whole bottle of this and be in trouble. That smooth, yeah. Yeah, it's smooth whiskey. It's not burning. And you could drink it pretty fast.

I like it. Again, here's another whiskey that's a little bit different than anything else you've had before. It's got its own profile. It kind of stands out. I would agree with that. Yeah. Again, don't test me in a blind because I'll forget it. But I think that this is unique. And I would hope I could pick it out, but maybe not.

Think that nose on it's very distinctive and this is a little bit different than that Woodford Reserve We did whiskey to me. It's more creamy Than that Woodford Reserve is where that Woodford Reserve brings a little bit more oak out and that might because of the age This is like two years old or that Woodford. I think is a little bit older than this maybe a four or six

Weigel, Pennsylvania weeded whiskey.

And this is, like I said, this is something I've been wanting to get for a while. I've actually had people go up Pennsylvania. They're like, I can't find it. And it just so happened today, I was looking up their website and I was checking them out and reading all about them. And I was reading about several other whiskey places too, and saying, I don't want to reach out to this person. I don't want to reach out to that person. And man, what a treat.

Ryan Sadler, thank you, sir.

So Randy, we'll get a second pour. What have you been doing up on that mountain, man?

Actually, walking Coon House, running Coon House with the four-wheeler and checking out waterfalls. And we happen to live about two miles from the Blue Ridge Parkway, which is a beautiful drive, if you've ever done that. About a mile from the Appalachian Trail. Down at the old country store, every now and again you see people with backpacks. I've just really been chilling. I want to work on an EP, not an album, but an extended play. About five songs or so. some of my old buddies from Railroad and Dr. Hook and some of that stuff and see if we can't get some of these guys together to play a little bit. But, you know, that's something I'll be working on this next year. You got them on board though, right? Well, I do. And then you guys know, of course, Bo Garrett from Montgomery Gentry. I got a tune called Blondes and Bourbon that I really want to. He said he'd help me out on that. So I got to get back with Bo on that. And so, you know, just just enjoying life, really, you know,

I think he came back to Louisville to get another bottle of that Heaven Hill Bottle and Bond.

Well, you know I love that stuff. Yeah, you do. And I really want to try the seven-year, just to see if that extra year really, did it do anything for it?

Well, you've got a bottle of the six-year. I do. When we get back to my place, we'll pour you a good-sized sample of that seven-year. And you can go sit up on the mountain and compare the two.

And compare. Yeah, somebody had actually, one of our roadies, he sent us two bottles of it. Really? I'm gonna tell you, we have a big, that Brody's is a family, you know?

Man, they must be. To send you guys stuff like that, they're just here. Try this.

Good brothers and sisters is what I'd call them.

Mike, what do we got in our glass now?

So we got McKinsey D184. It says taste, select, repeat is what it is. Taste, select, repeat. I think that's what the writing says.

So if you taste it, then you will repeat this?

Yeah, I think so. It's 104 proof. It's a blend of a five-year, eight-month whiskey and a four-year, three-month whiskey. Loving the nose on this one. And that could be a D1Y4.

I think it's a DIY. DIY? DIY private.

Drink it yourself. There you go. DIY4 then.

DIY4.

OK. So McKinsey DIY4, taste, select, repeat.

OK. So they also have a DIY7 that I think is available in Sealbox. OK. This one's a little more balanced. Not too sweet up front. This is just on the nose. got a little bit of junipers.

I was going to say some kind of floral, something, something, but not too much alcohol in the nose.

What's the proof on this is about 104. I think. 104. Okay. 104 proof. So I'm liking the nose. It's a little bit minty, a little bit piney, but that floral definitely comes through on this thing.

You better start drinking cause I've already tasted it.

Man, that nose and the palette, they're right on par with each other.

Yeah. I could see that.

That is a nice spicy. What is the, what's the match bill on this thing? Don't know. Let's see what we can find.

DIY for, huh? He's looking that up. So you're up on that mountain. What, what, what have you been drinking on lately? Anything new? Well,

The last I finished was the Knob 120. Really liked that one because I had been more the 100 guy and then got a hold of a bottle of that. I think somebody actually had given me that or something. Actually, even Julie, she's more of a mixer. She actually was like, hey, that's got some really good flavor. Cheers to the knob 120 there. I had a bottle of Calumet that we had gotten or I had gotten way back when we were trying to get one of the vets at Churchill Downs, Calumet at a horse farm. And she was actually able to drink that straight, and it was actually pretty good. I don't know that I would go out and just buy a bottle of it, but it was good stuff. Finished up my Russell tenure, so I may have to work on that again. But in Virginia, you can get Russell Reserve tenure all day long. a little different there than it is here in Kentucky as far as...

Your control state. Yeah. So you gotta go to the bookstore.

You gotta go to the Virginia ABC to get your liquors. But A really cool place right off of Wintergreen. Wintergreen is a ski resort. Oh, I've skied there many times. Right down from there is a place called Devil's Backbone, and it's no more for a brewery. But what they have there is a little place called The Shanty. And it's kind of like a little cigar bar in a little cabin shack. You go in there, and there's the wood stove burning. And what I noticed was they had a lot of really good mid-shelf stuff. you know, Whistlepig 10 year and the Russell 10, you know, and some of that stuff through that vein right there. And I was actually impressed and not a lot, but really good selection, you know, and

You're not going to have to do without.

No, I don't think I will, but it's still not the selection in that state that I get in Kentucky when I come here, you know?

Yeah, we're a little bit special here, I guess, when it comes to bourbon. You guys are spoiled here.

Let me just... Mike, you're going to be so surprised about this DIY four. Do It Yourself Four from Finger Lakes Distilling, Mackenzie Bourbon. You ready for this mash, Bill? Let's hear it. Four grains. 65% corn, 13% spelt. Wheat is 11, wheat malt is six, and barley malt is five. This is a weeded bourbon. This is a weeded bourbon, Mike. And it's got spice like a rye bourbon, doesn't it? I was going to say.

I think it has as much spice as that, like that desert jewel, which is the same proof.

No, no, it doesn't. But this has got a little bit of mintiness to it. Yep. And where's that floral hint?

I like it, though.

This is good. It's really good. Not especially, you said, weeded. Oh, boy. No surprise there.

You just turned the memories on in that brain.

Yeah, it's just all flowing back.

So this is from Finger Lakes Distilling. It's in Burdette, New York, and it's a blend of two single-barrel bourbons. It's a five-year-old bourbon with a mash bill 70 corn, 20 wheat, and 10 barley malt, and a four-year-old barrel with 59% corn, 28% spelt, and 13% wheat malt. So it's a, it's a weeded bourbon. What is, what'd you say spelt? Spelt is a, is it spelt an ancient grain wheat?

Yeah. It's a little, it's a little different and I don't know a whole lot about spelt. I've heard about it, but, um, you know, cheers to New York for trying something a little different.

You know, it worked. It seems like all the craft distilleries are trying to be their own. They're making whiskey, but they're trying to make it their way. They're not trying to make it the same way Kentucky bourbon. I think most of them are trying to do that. Something just a little bit different that makes it special.

And you would never expect that out of New York of all places.

Yeah, and it must be tough, I would think, there because of the coldness to make a whiskey unless they're in a climate controlled warehouse.

to get the heat that you would need to push it up into the staves.

So you got horses up there to mountains, but they weren't mountain horses to begin with.

Ours weren't, no. The mountain horses up there. But what's interesting is in the Valley, when I drive down the mountain and get down the mountain and get kind of in the Shenandoah Valley, The horse farms look very similar to here in Kentucky. Now, they don't have that bluegrass. Like I said, we were lusting after that grass when we crossed the border because you don't get that on the mountain up there. You know, Timothy Orchard makes a little bit, but you don't get that Kentucky bluegrass. So yeah, they've had some acclimating to do. We've had to really pump them up to keep some weight on them. When they're used to this around here, normally we have to keep them off it because of the sugars in the grass here in Kentucky. Buddy in the spring that'll fatten your horse up quick.

That must be nice for you is just to get on your horse out there You got time, right?

All right, maybe put a bottle of whiskey in a saddle bag and take a ride I'm not I'm not gonna say on the air that I don't take a flask It is nice and when the horses actually settle down because remember ours weren't used to the rock Quite like you get up there, you know the rock the rocky surfaces but once they settle into that Man, you talk about beautiful. And where we're living, there's three waterfalls on the camp there. And I've only been to one of them because the other two are very remote. But we're just up from Crabtree Falls, which is a lot of people come from Richmond and other places to go hike the falls there, you know, up there on the mountain. Yeah, it's nice. And you guys know you got a place to stay. We're planning it. We're planning it. If you ever come up.

You know, Crabtree Falls, this is back many a year ago when my daughter, she's 23 now, or 24. And when she was three, I actually hiked from the base of Crabtree Falls all the way to the very, very top. That's a hike. Where the lookout is with her on my shoulders.

So you guys asked what else I was doing before COVID hit. The volunteer fire department there asked some of us to actually do some training and they're constantly getting called out to Crabtree Falls because somebody decided to take a selfie and well they got a good shot all right so. as they tumbled. And so, you know, they're constantly doing rescues there up there, up there at Crabtree Falls, but beautiful place.

So if you hear some heavy breaths on the listeners on the air, that is not me or Jim breathing while Randy's talking. That's old Woodrow. He's sitting here right where this recording today and he's just, he's panting away. Does Woodrow like bourbon? No, I don't know. I don't know.

He likes bourbon podcasts. That works. All right, Mike. So what do we have next on our list here?

I don't have anything else there. There is something here. Uh, and we, we've all had this, uh, and we'll go ahead and sample on it for our last one of this half. It's larceny barrel proof.

It's, uh, I have not had larceny. I have not. I like larceny. It's a, it's a really good solid. solid bourbon. In fact, we can get larceny in Virginia, believe it or not. So.

But you can't get this. I can't get that. No.

So what's the proof on it, Mike? I knew you were going to do that to me.

115.2. Okay. Yeah.

I've had, I've had larceny barrel proof at 123 or so. I've had it at 115 before. Let's see what it's all about.

115 should be good. Oh Lord, big teeth don't hook me up with this poor.

Another weeded bourbon here for me.

You're getting your fair share of weeds tonight.

I'm going to, I'm going to sleep well tonight.

A little bit, a little bit more proof on the sniffer there. Yeah.

That might straighten that nose hair you had problems with. It might just straighten it out. We've posted this bottle before. I've got a bottle of it and it took a beating on social media. Really? Why? I wonder. You know, I just don't think a lot of people like larceny or they don't think they like larceny or they don't like weeded bourbons. It just took a beating all day long and I don't know. You know, I really don't know.

Well, you know, what was the motto of this show when it first started? You're bourbon, you're whey. And so that may not be some people's whey.

I don't think this is only, I think, 60 some bucks. The ones I bought are pretty positive.

Well, introduced, larceny barrel proof introduced into the market here in Louisville at one hundred and fifteen dollars a bottle. So I'm not sure what it is now, but, you know, it was and I haven't had a bottle since the initial release.

I bought them. I'm going to have to look this up, Jim. I'm going to look it up.

You know, the mid didn't stand out and nothing stood out.

Yeah, for me, it's good. I mean, it's a good bourbon. It's nothing spectacular. It's just a good solid bourbon. It doesn't raise my eyebrows at all. It doesn't make me go, wow, I got to get a bottle. But I would sit with good friends and sip on this all night long and I'd be perfectly happy to do so.

So $49.99 retail, and I bought it right up here at Paradise Licker for 60 bucks.

Yeah, it introduced, it's been a couple of years, but it introduced, I know we went down to a release and I think at that time it was, it might've been even a single barrel because the different bottles had different proofs on them. And this was probably two years ago, maybe a little bit longer and they were 115 a bottle. There might've been a lot of pushback for that. That might've been, who knows. Is that why you think it got the bad rap? I don't know. I don't know. Maybe some bad reviews. I mean, let's be honest, guys, this is good bourbon, but it's nothing to write home about.

But I wouldn't just give it a bad review on what I've tasted and the nose on this one here, though.

No. And you know what? 40, 40 bucks plus for a bar.

I totally disagree with Jim. I think this is a special pour for a weeded bourbon drinker and he's the, what he's saying is what people, some people online, but I think they're totally wrong, but you're bourbon your way. You decide. I think it's a great whiskey. It's a great weeded whiskey. It's a little bit there up in proof. Um, and I pay $60 all day long compared to what other people are paying for other stuff.

I mean, I think I just said that for the price, this is a good bargain.

I love it. But you know what's interesting with the three guys sitting here? You had to turn me on to Ry. I was not a Ry guy like you are. I've been trying with Mike, but it's not working. OK. He's been a weeder ever since I knew him. And, and I'm just your straight traditionalist over here. You know, it's, it's almost like if the three of us could agree on something, that's gotta be some pretty daggum good bourbon right there.

I just, people will beat it up and, or, you know, it's just not in their wheelhouse. And maybe it is the weeders that maybe some weeders are beating up too that they don't like how spicy it is. It has a little bit more spice.

Here's my thing with this. If you were to give me this and next to it in another glass, you were to give me straight 94 proof larceny right off the shelf.

I'm not sure which I'd prefer.

I'm not a hundred percent sure. I might actually prefer the 94. Because I really do like larceny.

I think larceny is a good, in fact, if you go downtown Louisville, the last time I actually had larceny out and about, the poor price-wise compared to some of the other stuff that was available, I ended up going larceny that night, you know?

Yeah, you can find larceny in the store every day in most bars. And like you said, the price point on it is not bad at all. Yeah.

Maybe the magic in this bourbon is somewhere between 115 and 94. You know?

No, you got a point there. Might be. Because I like the 94 all day long. Yeah. But remember mine's, you know, my alley, I guess you could say is right around that 100 proof. Yeah. You know? Where you guys like the hotter stuff. And what was the proof on this? 115.2. But for a 115, this is really smooth. Yeah.

Yeah, this would be right up where I'm, I mean, you can't be the professed king of, we the king of Kentucky and not drink whiskey. So I just think any wheat to me almost, there are some weeks that Jim, you know, I've like, man, I don't like that. We whiskey right there, but we did bourbon.

I mean, you're not just a category guy. You don't just like that. I mean, I know that, but for me, for me, this is, um, this is a good bourbon. It's a great bourbon. I'd sit and drink it with the friends all night long. I just don't think it brings anything spectacular to the table. How's that? Is that a better way to put it? And, uh, and I like larceny. I always have. And I think I would be just as happy with a, with a regular larceny as I would with the barrel proof.

This is like eating cocoa puff cereal all day long for me. Cocoa puffs.

Well, the memory created wouldn't be necessarily the bourbon. It would be the atmosphere. Yeah.

All right, Ryan Sadler, my friend. We sure appreciate it. Thank you for making it up. We do. We have thoroughly enjoyed the four samples that you sent us. And cheers to you, my friend. We thank you very much. In fact, you sent us some things we'd never had before, and that's always a treat. Appreciate it, man. Oh, yeah. All right, Mike, what do you say we take a short break here?

We'll, uh, load up and do it again. We're going to get in some old whiskey.

We've got some more. We've got some more samples that were sent to us and some old whiskey for some fine Southern gentlemen, right? We would like to thank Tommy and Gwen Mitchell from Loghead's Home Center for supporting this episode of the Bourbon Road. Loghead's Home Center, nestled in the hills of Kentucky, is an industry leader in building handcrafted rustic furniture. Family owned and operated, they take pride in offering only the very best for their customers. The Logheads, and that's what they like to call themselves, are skilled wood crafters who are passionate about creating rustic furniture for people who appreciate the beauty of natural wood. Owners Tommy and Gwen don't just sell the rustic lifestyle, they live it. And you can be sure that Loghead's furniture will always be handcrafted in Kentucky by artisans who embrace the simple way of life. Loghead's rustic furniture is made from northern white cedar, a sustainable wood that's naturally rot and termite resistant. Its beauty and quality will add warmth to your earthy lifestyle for generations to come. Be sure to check out everything they have to offer at LogHeadsHomeCenter.com. And while you're at it, give Tommy and Gwen a shout on Facebook or Instagram at LogHeadsHomeCenter. Well, we are back and we've got another round of samples for everybody. We've got the first one poured here.

I'm telling you.

You ready? I'm ready. What do you got for us, Jay? So first of all, a big shout out to Dan Trout. Dan has a YouTube channel called Dusty Dan's Whiskey Reviews. He was a guest on, I don't know the episode number right away, but it was near the first 10 or so episodes we had. We had some YouTubers on and we had a bottle share challenge and it was a great night. We had a lot of fun.

It was great. We'll always remember Dusty Dan.

Yep. Dusty Dan won the night with his four roses, I think it was, single barrel.

Was it? All I know is I remember the infinity blend from that. Yep. It's the best I've ever had. Roadmap. Yep, roadmap. Roadmap was the best, man.

Well, what he said, he sent us a whole box of samples here and we can't get through them all tonight. He's such a generous guy, but we did get, we did pull two of them out. We're going to save a number of those samples. He sent us for another night. We're going to do a dusty night, but tonight we're going to have, first of all, in our glass is bottle B and by his chart, that's a four roses, single barrel, barrel select, OESV, nine years, six months. Jamie Ferris, Lincoln road pick. So, you know, it's going to be good.

Jamie Ferris, Lincoln road pick.

Are you ready, fellas?

Catch the spice from the four roses. Definitely spicy.

Yeah, it is. Man, that's got a great nose on it. I could sit here and sniff on this all day long. But that's pretty daggum smooth. How old did you say this was, Jim? 9.6. Nine years, six months. What year was it? We've had these, he sent us these samples about six months ago, I guess.

So right after I left then, pretty much.

I'm a sample hoarder, but we're going to get them on a show, there's no doubt.

That's good stuff right there. I like that.

That's got some leather to it. I like that. A little bit of leather. Okay.

Okay. If you're going to go leather, I'm going to have to go leather that has been conditioned.

Like a good baseball glove. Yeah. Or a horse saddle.

You know, like a horse saddle. You just got through cleaning up. Yeah. That's good stuff.

It's so soft. It brushes its skin.

You guys are all right. So, so Randy, you said, you know, you get on that horse and you possibly could have a, a decanter or a flask with you.

I resemble that comment. You know, a lot of times, especially at the first of the ride, they want to go back to the barn. You know, our horses are spoiled. They've been in Kentucky. What do you expect? And so, you know, they want to go back. But later on as things settle down or you get down to to a fall or to a, you know, an overlook and you're looking down through the valley and stuff, you know, you can, you got time to take out a little something, have a little swing, a little snip. Yeah, just, just, just a little. And, uh, I'm telling you, it's very relaxing and you got to come up and try it sometimes.

Yeah, I think we're going to probably have our porthole flasks on there. That's what I was going to say. So we got a new sponsor since you left.

Who's your sponsor? Distillery Products and Premium Bar Products. They're going to make us some flask. Wow. Bring some flask with us.

Hey, bring me one. Get you up there on the Bourbon Road. And we'll have to take pictures for your Instagram account and all the roadies. Yeah. So do we have roadies from Virginia?

Any from Virginia? We got a couple from Virginia. A couple old army buddies of mine actually live in Virginia. What part? They live, I got him Kevin Collins. He's got a tree service down in Virginia Beach. Oh, okay. Over to the East Coast area. He's always sending me stuff and saying, hey, what about this bottle? What about that bottle?

So I need to get over to Virginia Beach is what you're saying. Most definitely. Okay. All right. We need some information before we leave.

It seems like he always has a new bottle or something.

Well, you know, I've been wanting to go to Virginia Beach. What can you say from the mountains to the beach? I mean, Virginia is one of those states that has mountains and beach.

So we talked about sub chapters of roadies if it ever gets that big. And maybe you'll be our Virginia host out there.

You know, um, I I'm doing nothing. So I don't have time for that, Jim. Mike, I don't have time to do the roadie stuff, but you know, I might attend a meeting on occasion. If there's bourbon to drink or not.

Will there be bourbon there, he says? I don't know, hey.

But no, man, I just wanted to, I appreciate you guys and decided to put this together. Cause this is, this is fun. This is like the old days right here, man. That's a pretty good whiskey, right?

That's a real good.

Dusty Dan, shout out buddy.

This is good stuff. And you know, one of the things I'm a true believer in the Four Roses single barrel, barrel selects there. What a great value. I mean, The price on those is what are they running here in the thirties in the thirties.

Wow. Okay.

I mean, that's really a price and uh, you know, and they're, they're pretty darn good. This is an OESV. I'm not a scholar on, you know, the different formulas there at different recipes.

That's cause he's just a bourbon bullshitter. He's not a bourbon expert.

Yeah, this is a, this is a good one. Dan, awesome pick. Glad you sent it to us. I enjoy it. I'm sure once he won our challenge contest with that four roses.

Oh yeah. He ended up with, his head was expanded before he walked out the door for sure.

Did he leave you guys with a Scooby snack?

Oh, let me tell you about that Scooby snack.

Yeah.

Oh, Julie loved that stuff. I noticed there wasn't as much mixer going into that as there usually was when she mixed her one.

Well, that's good because that's a, that's a fine bottle there.

We enjoyed our Scooby snacks and I think she, she really wanted to keep the, I don't know if it was packed up cause I think she wanted to keep the bottle as, as you know, decor. So yeah, thanks.

All right. So next on our list guys, are we ready? Let's do it. Next on our list is barrel rye single barrel. 13 year.

13 year.

Put your seat belts on. Man.

145.2 proof. You know, I think we were a little low on antifreeze when we got here to Kentucky.

Well, I think, I think my nose hairs were going to burn.

I was going to say that one and we'll be straightened after this for sure, buddy.

So I guess once, once a bottle reaches 140 proof, you have to designate it as hazardous material, hazmat. So this is a hazmat bottle. It's 145.2 proof. You know, under normal situation, I think we should probably save this till last, but we got one more after this.

When was this distilled?

I would have to Google it, but this is again, we got this about six months ago. I'm assuming it came from his current collection. So probably a year to two years. 145.

I mean, moonshine is the only thing I had that was this.

Now this is a very light colored whiskey. It's not real dark and it's been a lot of time in a heavy charred barrel.

This is more vanilla colored than, than Amber actually, you know, when you look at it, very light. That blonde, I guess. Yes, blonde.

Now take, take a nose on that. Do you get 145 proof?

No, there's no way that I would just nosing this, not knowing think that this was 145.

Now the other day I drank some 160 proof.

What? What was it? It didn't come out as straight off the still. It did.

Okay. There you go. That's the nice thing when you go back and let you try it.

Yeah, like I said, that'll burn you a new one on the way.

Whatever made you try to try the. Did you straight off the steel over there at wilderness trail that day?

Oh yeah.

That's pretty good stuff. Yeah. But I don't think that was coming off the steel at 160 or 140.

My favorite white dogs from 1792. I just love it there.

You know, I've never had any of that.

Well, they don't bottle it. You got to actually go on the tour to get it. But, um, yeah, it's, it's like drinking hot buttered popcorn. So Randy, you took a sip of this already, right? What do you think about that? For 145 though, I don't know that it was that hot. Yeah. You know? So it's definitely will fool you on the nose. If you're, if you're nosing this and somebody asked me, what's the proof? I would definitely say one 12 to one 15.

You're going to get the alcohol on the nose. I mean, you just are at 145, but it's very sweet to me.

Um, like butterscotch just, just blow it up.

Yeah, it's got a lot of, it's got a little bit of viscosity to it. It coats the tongue. That's a good rye. Now Barrel puts out some stuff that'll get your attention.

And the Lays are actually very good on this.

I don't often get to drink 140 plus.

I don't often get to turn the tap on hazmat, but yeah, you know, there you go.

I'm definitely get that Kentucky hug going on right now.

Yeah. Kentucky kiss, Kentucky hug. Now troubles giving me a tuck.

Well, good thing we're taking micro pores tonight because I know that's right. I'd be three sheets to the middle.

I'd be down there trying to swim and jump the creek stroking rocks. Exactly.

Man, I mean, I tell you what guys, I might need a little bit of water before we drink that last one tonight.

Now, what, where'd you say that was from Jim?

Barrelcraft spirits is actually in Louisville, Kentucky.

What?

Yeah. And barrel craft spirits.

Are they like the MGP? Yeah.

Well, I think they, they curate barrels and they make blends. So barrel craft spirits is kind of a blend.

But who blends at 145, Jim? I took to get that Kentucky hug has moved on down.

Well, I tell you what, I think that's got a rather long finish and a big Kentucky hug. And we'll call it a Kentucky bear hug.

I would agree with that. I'm going to need a glass of water. That's us. That's some strong stuff right there.

Randy, can you, well, nevermind. I want to get you a little water, man. All right.

That's some hot stuff. What'd you say that was called Preston? But you know, for, for how hot it was, it wasn't, it wasn't. It wasn't Tabasco. Yeah. I was going to say, you know how you get a hot sauce and sometimes the heat is so much, you don't get the flavor.

Yeah.

That wasn't that quite that way.

No, it's very flavorful. Now, Mike, I saw you take the last little bit of that there and you decided to pour a little water in it. Cause it's 145 proof. I had to proof it down a little bit. I think you proved it. You proved it down to about 15. I was going to say he did.

It was three quarters of that green can.

I made a white claw. Yeah. I tell you what, that was, uh, that was a bit of proving water there. I've never seen anybody add that much. So you had maybe a sip left and you added about three ounces of waters.

I just needed to clean it out a little bit there. That's fine.

So what did you guys do tonight? I don't know. At last I heard was about 45.

So I was telling them, guys at work, they're like, what are you going to go home and do tonight? And I said, well, it's my first night back on day shift. And I was like, I'm actually going to get to go home and drink some whiskey tonight and relax a little bit. Because you get off from night shift, and the last thing you want to do is come home and drink. And then you get up and go back to work, and there's no time to do any of that. So it's nice to come home and have a pour. And what a surprise it was, Jim texted me and said, hey, man, Randy wants to, let's hook up with Randy Knight. have a couple drinks.

Man, I really appreciate this. And you know, the setting is beautiful. You know, the only thing that would be better if we were down by the creek doing this.

We should have been here two nights ago.

I missed it. Okay.

All right guys. So we've managed to put away the 145 proof of rye, a little bit of water and we're ready to move on. I got a treat for you. And what is this treat? All right, so this is from Jeff Irish. Randy, you know Jeff.

Yes, Jeff and Liz from Bourbon Rehab. What is it? Bourbon Barrel Rehab. Bourbon Barrel Rehab are actually making our dining room table for us. And included in that table will be a footrest from the, I guess, what do you call it? The wrought iron stuff that, you know, that goes into your, the concrete and stuff from the actual rebar. Rebar, yes. From the old Crow distillery. Is what he's making the footrest out of.

So the old Crow distillery, that's the one that has the Glens Creek distilling is? Yes, Glens Creek, yes.

Okay, got it. That's the old Crow distillery. And people don't know a whole lot about Old Crow, but you know, Grant, Lincoln told somebody, who do you tell that, you know, hey, if all my generals were like Grant, I'd send them a...

So you got a bunch of other politicians that came in and the secretary of war, everybody said, hey, you need to fire Grant because he's drunk and all he wants to do is sit around and drink bourbon and stuff. But Grant was winning all his battles. Everywhere he went, he would win. He would win, he would win, he would win. He's always winning the fight. And Lincoln said, hey, does anybody know what General Grant's drinking? They were like, oh, crow. They were like, he was like, well, you better go get me some barrels of that.

Because I want to send it to all my juniors. I'm going to send it to all my juniors.

They're going to fight as good as Grant. That's how the story goes.

Well, and he's not the only one. Because Truman and Mark Twain, it evidently was a really big bourbon at the time. And so for us to have that as a footrest, a piece of history as a footrest on a table from Bourbon Barrel Rehab is going to be fricking awesome.

Hopefully one day. And I'm hoping it's sooner than later, because it looks like Freddie knows going to have a new craft distillery at Jim Beam to experiment with stuff. I would love to see Freddie know, bring back old crow and make it a dominant bourbon. Like it was in the old days. Yeah.

Well, there's some, there's some powers to be there. I think the nos have a lot of people when they stand up and talk, people listen, but there's a, there's a big executive board above them that makes a lot of the business decisions. I don't know if old crows on their list of things to resurrect, but I think it should be. I agree with you.

Several people in the bourbon community would say the same thing. Yeah.

I'm just happy that a piece of history is going to be on a table that I'm going to have in Virginia from Kentucky. So thanks, Jeff and Liz over at Bourbon Barrel Rehab.

Well, again, thanks to Jeff and Liz. We won't forget Liz for providing the bottle we're getting ready to drink here. And this is a bottle of not old crow, but old granddad. And this bottle of old granddad was distilled in 1962.

Oh, way before I was born.

That's what you're trying to say. Definitely before I was born, Randy. I'm not sure about you, buddy. I was dreaming of a thought back then. And it was barreled in 1967. So it's a five-year-old juice. It's old granddad. It's definitely right during the 60s.

But if you look at that from here, it's not clear. That's got some good amber color to it still.

It's got some good color to it, but it is a clear bottle.

So do you know whose photo that is or image that is on that bottle? An old granddad? Yeah.

No, actually I have not had old granddad but once. What about you, Jim? You know who that is?

That's Basil Hayden. That dang sure is. Basil Hayden.

Are you kidding me? Awesome. You know, Basil Hayden was the first bourbon I actually tried when I moved to Kentucky.

So big chief, you had to go get a pair of pliers to open up that bottle. I did. That bottle has been sealed tight since 1967.

You know, that's back when they did stuff. Primo.

Well, I'm just glad it's clear juice. Cause when you get something that's 60 years old or almost 60 years old, you want to make sure it's 58 years old since it was distilled 58 years ago.

So what did you do this last week? Well, let me tell you. It's got some good color to it. That's what has surprised me the most is how, you know, I talk about a liquid sunset with bourbon and that looks just about as good as any I've seen.

Back when old granddad was made in Frankfurt, Kentucky.

Frankfurt, Kentucky.

Man, I'll tell you what, that nose on that, it's butterscotch-y.

But it's butterscotch that has been put on the stove and melted.

I could get that. Like homemade butterscotch.

Like old grandma got up in there with the pot and got busy.

Yeah. Wow. That is, um, that's definitely got a dusty flavor to it, doesn't it?

It tastes kind of like I went to my grandmother's house.

Does it taste like grandma's bedroom?

I was going to say, am I wrong? I would call that butterscotch. What do you think? There was butterscotch that I smelled from grandma's bedroom. There you go.

Most definitely. Yeah, I don't know about that one, Jim. I might have lost something over that.

So I have a question for all you bourbon connoisseurs. If I buy a bottle of bourbon, how long can I leave the bourbon in that bottle and it still be fairly close to what it was when it was... You mean after you opened it? Yeah.

I mean, I have not had one go bad on me yet.

Well, that's gonna... Does it ever go bad or... How long do you really have... So this six year heaven hill, okay? You give that to me and I go, God, I just don't want to open that. I don't want to open it.

I think if you keep it, if you didn't open it, you put it in a dark, dry place. I do have a dark, dry place and I put my stock from Kentucky anyway. So if you, if you, I think if you keep it out of the sunlight, you know, I think most of the people would say that it it's going to stay good for, but for 60 years or 58 years. Yeah.

I mean, if the bottle is say mostly empty, probably not. But, um, if the bottle is, Mostly full probably.

That's a mostly full sample bottle. Right now.

I wonder if that had a, a metal metal lid on our little aluminum lid or something that the metal started deteriorating over time. And maybe that's why I'm tasting that. I don't know. I'm getting a bad aftertaste for this. I swear to God that's grandma's house right there.

Yeah, I just think it tastes like a lot of older whiskeys that I've had that are dusty like that. They have that butterscotch-y musty kind of musty flavor. That's pretty typical. Now, is this one a little bit further, maybe musty than? Yeah. Yeah. I think so.

I think it moldy.

I mean, when I smelled that, I was sitting there going, I was looking at the round oval mirror. I was looking at the old wood from the chest of drawers.

I would smell you get from old house.

Yes. cast iron stove, you know, with the with the cast iron pot on the, you know, I don't know. That's the because we were talking earlier, Jim, about memories. You know, when you open up a certain bourbon, a lot of times it gives you a memory of where you've been or what you might envision. And that's what I envision with that right there. Yeah.

All right. So the old granddad from 1967 is not a super big hit because it didn't fare well over the years.

Evidently. It was good back in the day.

I think it's always a crap shoot when you open an old dusty bottle. You never know when you're going to get one that's well preserved or one that didn't do so well. This one didn't get ruined completely in my opinion. but I think it's probably not as good as it's been in the past. It's probably been a lot better than the past.

But, but Jeff and Liz, we do want to thank you for the experience. Yeah. That was, that was, I mean, who gets the chance to drink something that's 58 years old, you know?

Well, the bourbon rope does that. That is pretty special. You know, you definitely got to thank people for sharing their samples with you, sharing that old dusty with us. Um, you know, bringing back those old memories of your grandmother or visiting your grandparents at their house. That's what the bourbon culture is all about, right Jim?

Absolutely. And Randy, it's been a pleasure to have you back in town, my friend.

Guys, I can't thank you enough for, for letting me, uh, join you again for some good tastings and, uh, get to hang out with the bourbon culture. You know, we were a little bit isolated up on that mountain, but come down into Kentucky and, uh, you know, to see what you guys have been doing with the bourbon road is awesome. I'm proud of you guys. It makes your mother and I proud. as they say down in South Georgia. And you know, good job. Have enjoyed it. And I'm sitting here looking at Big Chief's collection. Perhaps we might have an after party.

Well, Randy, um, you know, you did invite us to come down to Virginia and visit you, but you did say don't come empty handed, bring some bourbon, right?

You know, when you cross that line, um, there should be some bourbon behind.

So anyway, Hey, you can find us on, uh, Instagram. You can find us on Facebook at the bourbon road. You can find me at one big chief. I'm Jay Shannon 63.

And we've got a closed group, uh, on Facebook called the bourbon roadies. And, uh, it's not really closed. It's really open to all you bourbon lovers. We'd love you to come in. You just need to answer a couple of questions when you, when you asked to join. We want to make sure you're 21 that you know, you're getting yourself into that you like bourbon and, uh, that's going to be nice to everybody once you're in there.

But when you come in, Hey, have fun hanging out with a couple of crazy guys. That's all I got.

Post photos, if you get a glass from us, post those photos. We might use them on our Instagram or our Facebook shots. Like Jim said, just be nice to each other, to your fellow man, fellow woman, you know, and we'll have a great time.

You know, that's true with all the chaos going on in the world. Hey, here's a bright sunny spot.

We'd like to thank Distillery Products for sponsoring the show and Premium Bar Products. You know, they provide all the glassware for the Bourbon Road.

Oh, they do. They do.

Wow. Actually, they're on our website now. So if you're looking for a new Glen Caron or a set of Glen Carons or you'd like to get some new Rox glasses, make sure you pop into thebourbonroad.com and check out our online store. You know, it's a easy in and out and you can have yourself some nice Bourbon Road glassware. We're always adding new items. We're going to add some flasks here pretty soon and eventually some t-shirts and hats and all the good stuff. Right. Mike.

I think we're going to, well, people will be surprised what we're going to have me and Jim being veterans will hoping to have some military glasses in there too, with your. branches logo on it and stuff. A lot of people like that. I have a couple of those. So we'd like to see you buy those from us at a lot cheaper price than you get them anywhere else. That's right.

We're not in this to make any money. We just want to spread the love.

And you know, as a military brat, you know, we're here to support you guys too. Well, Randy, hey man, thanks again for coming over tonight. Enjoyed hanging out this beautiful depth of Creek down here and, uh, you know, trying some bourbon with some good friends. It's what this culture is all about. Great child.

We'll see y'all down the burden road. There you go. We do appreciate all of our listeners and we'd like to thank you for taking time out of your day to hang out with us here on the Bourbon Road. We hope you enjoyed today's show and if so, we would appreciate if you'd subscribe and rate us a five star with a review on iTunes. Make sure you follow us on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram at The Bourbon Road. That way you'll be kept in the loop on all the Bourbon Road happenings. You can also visit our website at thebourbonroad.com to read our blog, listen to the show, or reach out to us directly. We always welcome comments or suggestions. And if you have an idea for a particular guest or topic, be sure to let us know. And again, thanks for hanging out with us.