76. Boondocks Eight Year Port Finished Bourbon

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.

Welcome back for another installment of Craft Distillery Monday here on the Bourbon Road. We would like to thank our friends at Premium Bar Products for sponsoring this episode. If you're ready to step up your game at your home bar, check out premiumbarproducts.com to choose from their wide selection of glassware, all of which can be custom engraved with your personal message or logo. And there's no minimum order. So after the episode, head over to premiumbarproducts.com and check out everything they have to offer. Now let's get on with the show. Well, hello, everybody. I'm Jim Shannon. I'm Mike Hyatt. And this is the Bourbon Road. And Monday, once again, another craft distillery review. What do you have for everybody today, Mike?

Well, man, I tell you what, I've looked at these bottles and I've looked at them and looked at them and looked at them. And, you know, I look at whiskey sometimes in a bottle and it's just too light for me. I'm like, it's not dark enough. And then I happen to see this thing on the shelf. So we're gonna review boondocks They have an eight-year-old straight bourbon whiskey finished in port barrels out in the boondocks Yeah, that's all yeah, I know who sings that like I don't know I don't have a clue it just came to mind though Well, boondocks referred to rural areas and whiskey distillers would have to be close to their grain producers back in the day. And they also have to be close to a abundant source of water. So hence out of the boondocks.

So the master distiller at Boondocks is David Shurek. Legendary distiller. Legendary David Shurek. So David worked, well, he worked a lot of places in the industry. I mean, he was at Seagrams. He was at Wild Turkey. He actually was in the startup project that restored the Lebron Graham distillery there at what is now Woodford Reserve. They say he actually lived on the property.

Yeah, I think it was that where the tourism shop is now, not the gift shop, but where you would go to sign up for your tours and stuff. And they have a bar over there and a fireplace and some sitting rooms. I think that was his house.

Okay. So he used to walk across that little street there and go to work every day in the restoration project that brought that distillery. One of the more beautiful distilleries on the trail brought it back to life.

Yeah, they said it was nothing but rumble, you know, just old dilapidated buildings. Everything was run down weeds growing up around it. And I'll tell you from having a farm here in Kentucky, if you let it go for a little bit, um, the wilderness is going to grow up around it.

So, but he, he w at the time he was working for Brown and Foreman. And, uh, so the idea was to restore that distillery and bring it up, uh, as a, you know, as a new distillery and, uh, make it the grand place that it is. So he was managing that project. He's also was the master distiller there, a distiller, uh, at the startup of that. And then, uh, he went on, I guess he retired, retired in 2011, I think in

you know, five years later, I guess he decided, well, I want to do something else. I'm bored.

Yeah. Let's go. Let's go make some whiskey.

That's probably how I feel. You know, if I mean, you've talked about retirement before and how both of us feel about retirement, you know, you're kind of peeking up on that, right?

Thanks, Mike.

You know, I think my wife's picking up on that age too, where me and her discussed retirement a lot. You know, you get a little bit older and you sit down and drink a little bourbon and you know, your life's kind of flashing in front of you a little bit. And what I want to do with the rest of my life and heck, starting up another distillery, that'd probably be my idea, right?

You know, that I don't think I could sit still. I would probably have to do something else, whatever it is. I don't know that it would take me five years to figure that out. But, you know, who knows? He might have traveled the world and said, okay, let's get back to work. But Boondocks, so Boondocks is bottled in Bardstown, Kentucky. It is a non-distilling producer. David Shurick is in fact the head distiller there, but they're sourcing the whiskey and then doing other things to it. In this case, this whiskey is a port barrel finished whiskey, not unlike Angel's Envy. Angel's Envy, several others out there now that are doing that.

It's got a good color to it. What's the proof on it, Mike? 90 proof. So they proved it down quite a bit. Well, what do you say we quit talking about it and we taste it? Let's do it. Let's, let's give everybody the money's worth.

All right, let's do it. I should say let's nose it and then we'll taste it. Wow. Got a lot going on in the nose. That's a beautiful nose on a whiskey right there. Yeah, I'm definitely getting that, that sweetness, that syrupy sweetness on the nose. I'm getting some floral on that.

I guess more of a, maybe a rose petal. Yeah. And the rye is coming through on the nose too. There's gotta be a bit of rye in that.

We don't know anything about the mash bill. I don't know anything about it. I imagine we probably could have researched it and found out, but there's definitely some rye in that. That's got a great nose on it.

The oak is coming through.

Yeah, yeah, I get the oak. So this is an eight year old straight bourbon whiskey that has then been finished in port wine casks. And typically on finishing in port wine casks, they usually go anywhere between six months and a couple of years, right? They don't go, they can't just say it's going to be so long because they don't know how long it's going to take to really take on that port flavor, right?

I think 12 months to 18 months is typically what I've seen.

Yeah. Yeah, I guess you got to keep a close eye on it and be tasting it often. I'm getting some raisin bran cereal on that. I'm getting the raisin. Absolutely. Well, Mike, let's taste it. Let's do it. OK, so didn't really translate to the palate so much for me. It's good, but there's none of that. I mean, there's so much going on in the nose. a little bit going on in the palette. So kind of, uh, it's a little bitter.

I can get that. I was expecting a lot more from this. I would like to see this right around 100, maybe 110. Um, and I'm wondering if it'd be, you know, that the notes would come through.

As I take my second sip though, it starts to give me a little bit more of a, a buttery rounded flavor on the sides and back of the tongue. So it does start to develop on the palette a little bit. It was just that first taste that sort of took me by surprise. So let's be fair and let's really experience this. Okay. So I'm getting a little bit more of a, a pleasurable palette off of it. Now it's, it's definitely a little more buttery, a little more leathery, buttery on the tongue. I'm getting a little bit of the bitterness, but I think it's the tannins maybe from the, the cask.

It's, it's definitely opening up when it's in the glass a little bit. I'm getting a little bit more vanilla. That raisin is still coming through for me though.

It doesn't have that sweetness on upfront though that I was expecting to get. I don't get that, that, that, you know, the kind you get from maybe an angel's envy, that little bit more sweetness you get upfront.

I'm actually getting a little bit of, I'm thinking about this. I'm getting a little bit of Dr. Pepper in this. Are you really? Them spices coming through on the back end there. Just a little bit of pepper.

Yeah. So, um, you know, the, wallet shells, getting wallet shells. I'm getting wallet shells, not the wallets themselves, but cause the bitterness that you get from like a black walnut, but the wallet shells. I've never eaten a walnut shell before, Jim. You've never gotten a wallet shell almost break your teeth.

No.

Yeah. They're hard as a rock.

Now I've gotten some pecan shell before. Yeah. Yeah.

I guess, I guess the best way to describe it is, is probably a, uh, not the full flavor of a nut, but kind of the nutshell.

Now I have gotten a young walnut that's not been done yet. It's not ripe enough and it's got that bitter taste to it. But I'm getting that bitterness, that drying out on it, but I'm getting more sugars that are coming out now. More sweetness that raisin that's coming out Vanilla, maybe just a tad bit of caramel not a not a whole lot and stuff I Get the spice and that's kind of where I say sweetness and that spice together Is a dr. Pepper because they got that 23 spices or whatever it is and

Yeah. So this one definitely has more spice than you might expect from like a, like an angel's envy. I think there's a little bit more rice spice in this.

Yeah, I think so. Not barrel spice you think or?

Well, yeah, probably not. I think this is probably rice spice.

Yeah. I think the more it opens up the fruitier it gets.

But there's almost, I mean, almost no finish on this. It doesn't last long at all. It goes away pretty quick. Seems a little light up front, not much sweetness on the back end. Little spice, little dryness, little bitterness, but then the finish just kind of goes away, not much hug. The nose is great, I think. I think the nose is the shining point for this one. I think the finish is where it falls flat.

in the middle somewhere.

I don't, I don't think that the palette really translates from the nose very well. It's missing some of the finer things of the nose.

No, they didn't send us this bottle. I had picked this up myself. I saw it on the shelf and I, it's something I'd been wanting to get once I saw it come out and I was kind of surprised to see it. I'm $60 for the bottle. I don't know. I'm not disappointed in it, but

Yeah. Um, Oh, it's, it's definitely, um, it's definitely not a mixer. No, this is a, this is a sipping whiskey. This is probably, um, I would share this with a friend. I don't know that I'd give somebody a bottle.

Yeah, I don't think I'd give somebody a bottle. I think this is more of a fall sipper. Yeah. You know, it's got that spice you would want, you know, let's say pumpkin latte spice, but, um, but a fall sipper I think would be good, not deep winter. It doesn't have enough spice and kick to it to be that, but this would be great in the fall to watch a football game with and sit down and drink on it.

Yeah. I think it's an interesting pour. I think if you want to share it with a friend and, uh, And, uh, you know, explore it and, and enjoy it over the course of a couple hours with somebody watching a ball game or sitting out on the back porch. I think it'd be a good choice. Uh, it would not be at the top of my list. I wouldn't reach for it on a regular basis. I think that, uh, there are others out there that I would prefer to have in that price range.

Yeah, maybe they just haven't mastered that finish. I think it's a good bourbon that's finished. I think other people are doing a little bit better. I'm excited to see that they're coming out with some more things. They got four expressions right now. Still a really young distillery and producer that, you know, they're non distilling producer, but still they're still young in the game.

Well, there's no doubt they know what they're doing. Uh, you know, their head distiller has been in the game a lot of years and he's an expert. There's no doubt about it. This came off the shelf. I'm sure it was exactly what he wanted it to be. It just doesn't meet my profile, uh, to the level where I would make it a big recommend, but I think it is a sipper.

Yeah. I don't know. It's on the fence. I'm on the fence on this one. You know, I can't say if I would buy it again. I don't know if it, you know, if I see if the up the proof, I'd like to see it in two years, you know, and I'm not going to see the same thing in two years, right? But two years, they might have something that's up in the years or higher proof. I'd like to see that higher proof, man. That just sounds weird coming from myself because I'm right there at that well or special reserve, you know, all day long, but this I would like to see, I expect more out of it. And I didn't really look at the proof when I bought it. I just saw boondocks and I saw it was dark. So I was a poor finish and was like, I'm grabbing that. I might not see it again. So I'd be glad to stick it on the bar and I'll share it with friends and say, Hey, let's try something different. Let's try something new. And my friends are all like, Hey, you always have something new for us to try. You're letting us experience these whiskeys, these bourbons with us. And they, everybody loves to do that. Same thing at your house, you know, sipped on a little bit of everything.

Yeah. So, I mean, in summary, I think, you know, it's got a great nose on it. I mean, it's up there with the best of them, no doubt about it. When it comes to the palette, I think you're searching for all those wonderful notes you got on the nose and you're just not finding them on the palette. And then the finishes kind of falls off. but it is a decent sipper. I would share it with my friends. Probably wouldn't gift a bottle to somebody, but it's definitely better than a mixer. No doubt about it.

Yeah, that's better than a mixer. Uh, you know, I'm still on the fence on it. I hate to say that that I'm on the fence on it, but I'm going to enjoy this bottle right here for most definitely.

I don't think it's going to get wasted.

No, you know what? Some of our roadies out there might get a sample bottle. There we go. It's always good to share your whiskey. All right.

Well, Mike, it's been another great show. And why don't you tell everybody where they can find us?

So you can find us on social media. You can find us at YouTube, Twitter, Instagram, and Facebook at the Bourbon Road. You can go on to our private Facebook group, the Bourbon Roadies, ask to join. Three simple questions, right, Jim?

That's right. We want to make sure you're 21. You actually realize you're getting yourself into a bourbon group and you're going to play nice with everybody that's in there because we're just like-minded people. We love bourbon. We love to share bourbon, talk about bourbon, take pictures of it. and give it away, we don't sell it. Don't sell it.

Don't sell it in the group. But hey, so while you're in that group or you're listening to us on anything you can download a podcast on, if you like what you're listening to, you want to hear more from us, leave us a review that gets us into urban distilleries, that gets us into doors that we normally wouldn't get into. So if you like what you're hearing, the content you're hearing, Let us know. Give us a review. Send us an email. Let us know what you want to hear.

Well, yeah, you can reach your mic at the Bourbon Road. I'm Jim at the bourbonroad.com.

Yeah.

Together we're team at the bourbonroad.com. Yeah. And I'm jshannon63 on Instagram. And I'm one big chief. And we will see you down the Bourbon Road. 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 it 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.