82. The Blanton's Trio - A Father and Son Celebration

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.

Hey this is Big Chief from the Bourbon Road and I got a special bonus episode for you tonight. So I'm down here at Barksdale Air Force Base, Louisiana with my stepson, Jacob Garrett. Jake, how are we doing tonight, man?

I'm doing all right.

So what are we going to do tonight? We're going to celebrate something. What are we celebrating?

So we're celebrating. It was my first Father's Day the other day and got to celebrate Father's Day with you. It was my first born son, Luke. So we're going to celebrate that and your grandson as well. So how, how, uh, what, when was Luke born? About three weeks ago.

Three weeks ago on June 3rd, right? Yeah, June 3rd. And how much did Luke weigh? Do you know?

Eight pounds, seven ounces and he's 21 inches long.

Man. He's a big guy. Big baby. Yeah. So it wasn't all smooth selling and everything is a scary time, right?

It's been rough. It's been very tiring. Very tired. Everybody says, uh, you're not going to sleep when you have a son. Um, I didn't think it was going to be this bad.

So, you know, you guys had some medical issues or Luke had some medical issues, which, you know, for any parent is rough to watch your kid go through anything, but for a new parent, that's even scarier. And, um, so we, we, we're going to drink something. I kind of ease those nerves a little bit. And so tonight, what are we going to drink tonight?

So we have, uh, regular Blanton's and we have Blanton's gold and then we have Blanton straight from the barrel.

Yeah. So that's your, your, that's your mantra, right? That's your go-to juice. Yes. So I brought you a bottle for Christmas or two bottles for Christmas down here because I knew you loved it. And, but, uh, I'd had a bottle from Germany that actually one of your second hands, I guess your mom's aunt sent me from Germany. And then I had traded a bottle for, uh, of another bottle of bourbon I had for straight from the barrel. So yeah, that's, that's what we're going to do tonight. We're going to taste these three. We're going to talk about them. We're going to talk about fatherhood. We're going to talk about Blanton's talk about a little bit of everything. Um, so let's, let's get straight to that whiskey, that first one. And the first one we're going to start with is a standard expression, right? When was that, when was that a bottle, when was it bottled?

So it was bottled, uh, nine 16 to 2019.

Yeah, that's, that's not too long ago, right? Not at all. So let's, let's, let's know as a sucker. And if you listeners, if you can hear it's a, it's thunderstorm and outside. So you might hear that just a little bit. So what do you get on that? What do you get on your nose?

I feel like a little bit of a toffee maybe.

Hmm. I get some dried fruits, like dark dried fruits. I don't know if raisins are a dark dried fruit, but I get that a little bit of orange zest, maybe. If you ever watch your mom cook and she'd zest some orange, I get a little bit of that. Just a little bit of light oak on it.

Yeah. Usually do more of the cooking than my mom's though.

Just a little bit. So just a little bit of that orange zest. It's got a great nose on it, I think. It does. Can you get that orange now that I said that? real light on the Oak now, six to eight years old is what it, what it, what's in the bottle. Um, all blanks comes as far as I know from warehouse H if, if not, I'm sure one of our listeners will tell us, um, and it's 90 proof, right?

So it was at 93, it says 93.

So let's, let's taste this.

A little bit of vanilla caramel on that.

A bit of vanilla caramel. I get that. I get a little bit of light honey or some butterscotch. I still, I can taste those, you know, if you ever bought some like, not like boxed raisins, but you bought like, like whole foods or go to Trader Joe's or somewhere like that has big old fat raisins. I get that bigger raisins. I can taste that. You know, I can get all that in it. Just a little bit of heat on that backend. Just a little bit. But you know, it's a rye. Not, not too hot. I can see why everybody loves it.

Yeah.

You know, what, what do you know about blends?

So, um, introduced in 1984 by, uh, Elmer, Elmer T Lee. Who was he?

Was he the, he was mastered still master stiller. Yup. Not Buffalo trace at the time it was owned by somebody else, but he was there for, he was there for a long time. But do you know who it was named for?

Uh, not too sure.

So everybody calls him Colonel Blanton because it was a Kentucky Colonel, the state of Kentucky. Um, the governor will name people, Colonel. I'm actually a Kentucky Colonel. Did you know that? No, I did not. It's for doing stuff good for Kentucky. And, um, I'd got mine when I was stationed up in Cincinnati and I did a lot of stuff with Kentucky and that's how I got to be a Kentucky Colonel. I haven't kept up with my dues or anything. I guess I need to do that since I live in Kentucky now.

Yeah.

Um, but Albert, um, he was a Kentucky Colonel, but he worked at, at the Buffalo Trays, which really when he started out, he was 16 years old. He started there in 1897 and he worked there for 55 years and pretty much he did everything at the distillery you could think of. Probably from sweeping the floors to the bottling line and eventually become the distillery supervisor. And he worked there for a long time. That 55 years at one place is definitely a long thing. You could hear that thunder cracking in the background a little bit there. Definitely big thunderstorms here in Louisiana.

They always do.

So he'd worked there for so long and I think they wanted to honor him. So in really 1983, I think is, or 84 is when they released it, the first barrels or bottles of this. And it was the first modern single barrel that was released. And Elmer wanted to honor, honor the great legend by naming something after him. And I think the company did too. And they came out of this and they, I don't know how they got the bottle, but it's definitely one of the most recognizable bottles of whiskey on the face of the earth.

I think especially the stoppers on the top.

So tell me about the stoppers. What do you know about them?

So the stoppers, they have horses on it with a jockey. And in the bottom left corner by the horse's hoof, it has letters. And if you collect all of them, it spells out Blanton's. Now you got a full collection, don't you? I do. You guys actually brought it to me for Christmas. I had a small collection of just a couple letters and then you guys just came and finished it off for me and I have it set up right behind me on my bar.

I drink a lot of bourbon to get the rest of those letters. But we also had a stockpile of blends kind of for families and friends. And what we would say is, hey, could you send your stopper back to us? And they would be kind enough to do that to it for us. And we ended up having enough letters actually to make a couple. You'd be surprised how many bottles of blends you buy people when you live 15 miles down the road from it. Yeah, you buy them cheap too.

I don't know if it's cheap, but it is a lot better price than what it is down here.

Yeah, cause when we came down here at Christmas time, we had stopped in New Orleans and we saw a bottle for like two 50 up on a shelf in a store. And I was just like, Oh, that is crazy. But that is the bourbon world. People kind of go crazy over stuff and shops will go crazy and sell it for a lot. Definitely good juice. I think it, to me it's worth the 50 to 60 bucks you buy it for. I think that's, that's what is, and Hey, this, um, This gold and this straight from the barrel might be a total different thing. So we'll see. So how is it being a new dad?

So being a father is tough. It's very tiring and challenging. It's a good reward in the end also. What I want is from what you instilled on me when I was a young man, I would like to instill into my son so he grows up to be a respectable young man. That's how I am. At least what I think I have.

I think that's what every good father wants is to raise their kids and make them a better, especially if it's a boy, I think. You want them to be a better man than you were and have as good as ethics and morals as you had. And it definitely can be tough. It's a learning experience every day, right?

It is a big learning experience. I'm learning every day. I didn't know how to change a diaper before three weeks ago.

I think every dad out there listening to this, either if they are about to have a kid, what advice would you give them?

Just stay calm. It's very, very tough. But I would, I'd give advice to stay calm. If you start feeling overwhelmed and frustrated, walk away five minutes, take a couple of deep breaths because it can really get to you.

What about a little sip of bourbon?

That'll definitely help you. It's tough. Take five minutes, walk away, take a couple of deep breaths because it'll raise your blood pressure and get you going and get you a little frustrated.

Yeah, I could think back to when, um, you know, your sister Elizabeth was born and, um, how frustrated I was and I didn't know anything and that we didn't have a whole lot of help there with us. So we, we really didn't know what to do. So we're new parents and we're trying to figure, figure life out and figure how to raise a kid. And, um, when a kid got sick, you're almost feel like you're a doctor too. And you're trying to figure out a doctor. And luckily now you got a phone, you can doctors, a phone call away and you can make a phone call and just take and get all that, that help you can get. But back then, you know, 20, 25 years ago, you didn't have that, that doc in a box where you call automatically and get that advice. So luckily you got that. You got a great wife that's taken to being a mother. And it's fun to watch, come down here and watch all that and stuff.

You know, I got good friends on either side of me that there's a couple that has this second kid and a couple on the other side of us that has another kid. So they've been giving us advice and been helping us out a lot and kind of we're learning from them a little bit, I guess you could say a little bit.

So if you guys don't know, I said I was down here on Barksdale Air Force. Jacob is in the Air Force and he lives on base in the Air Force community and everybody here is pretty much Air Force. There's some retirees on here, right? Yes. Most everybody's air force. So everybody's just kind of bringing their families up together here. And I think that's a nice thing to have. And, um, and you actually started a couple of people here that found out your bourbon guide and they've come over and tried to go to your bar. Yeah. Get a couple of drinks.

We're trying to, trying to grab some of this Blanton's and, uh, that's one that's, uh, it's my go-to, but it's, it's one for special occasions, except for the last bottle. I think I had a little too much fun with that bottle, but this bottle is going to last me a long time. And, uh, one of my buddies, uh, that lives next door, I did pour him a little tiny glass, but that was it for him. I was like, you're not getting any more of that.

Well, I think as you get older, you'll find that you like to share your bourbon a lot more. And it really doesn't matter which bottle it is, you'll just open it up. And I did have these two bottles I hadn't opened yet. And I've had them for not too long, but I still had them for the special occasion. And I got another bottle for when Elizabeth has her first kid. Whoever she's married to at the time or you know her for husband or whoever We're gonna we'll sit down and drink a little bit of bourbon together. So let's finish this this bourbon upper right here this the standard blends single barrel I don't think it's too hot or anything like that. And it just, to me, it finishes medium. Now white is not my go-to juice. It's definitely, it's a ride. I'm a weeded guy. So, and I've actually tried to introduce you to the world of wheats, um, brought you some wellers this past year.

And that, that one was, uh, I tried that a couple of months ago and that was, that was really good too. I did post something on social media about opening up that bottle and I was, I was really fond of that bottle.

Well, so we're going to move on to the Blanton's gold, right? So Blanton's gold was released in 2012, late 2012 was actually the first one was like, I think 11, 12, 12 was the first barrel dumped for it. And it wasn't released in, it was limited release in the United States. And until this year, this year is where they just started putting it to the United States and said, Hey, let's, Let's go ahead and sell it across the United States. So we're going to open a sucker up.

That is one I have not seen at all.

Now what's the proof on this one? Proof is 103. 103. So we're stepping it up from 93 to 103, right? Yes. And March 26, 2019 is when this was dumped. Now it could be the bottles, the Blanton's gold from Europe. To me, it looks like it's a different bottle. I can't really tell than the Blanton's bottle. Looks a tiny bit, I would say thinner, maybe a little bit, just not even that much taller. And I haven't seen any of Blanton Gold's bottles from, um, from the U S yet, but the horse as, as a gold plated horse, not real gold. I doubt that there's any letters on that one. There's really is a letter on there, man. If you, if you call gold buttons, horses, you're, you're the man. You, that means you've got a lot of bottles of bourbon and it feels it's pretty heavy, a little stopper and stuff. Well, let's notice this thing. And I still get more fruit on that.

Um, I still feel like I'm, I'm getting the, the tiny bit of a little bit of the alcohol on the nose. I do smell that. Very lightly though.

I'm still getting that fruit on it, that little bit of citrus, little bit of oak coming through there. Some dried fruit. I don't get that alcohol at all. I'm a little bit more, I think, I'm just more of a bourbon bullshitter than you are, I guess.

I mean, yeah, you've been doing it a lot longer than me. I'm one that just likes to drink it.

So you're already a good experienced bourbon drinker. Do you remember your first bourbon you had? Did you steal it from my bar?

And now I think what I, what I stole for me was 1800. That was some tequila. My first ever of some liquor, maybe bourbon or whiskey was some Jack Daniel's was a freshman year prom. That was, you know, back in 2005. I remember that night you came home. Yeah. Went out to a party after prom and had some Jack Daniels and came back feeling pretty good. My mom caught me in the basement and was like, how are you feeling? I was like, well, let me go to bed.

Well, that's nothing wrong with that. I had stories like that and we'd always taught you that, you know, I think we taught you good. that if you're going to drink, drink at home and ask us if you'd like to taste something. We'd always go camping all the time and I'm sure you have fond memories of that. We'd always share something with you and I don't think that's bad parenting. I think that's just responsible parenting and saying, hey, don't drink and drive. Be responsible, don't over-consume, and just be responsible with your drinking.

Except for that bar time from your house. That was not a good idea.

That's what he's talking about. He took a whole bunch of liquor from us.

And some craft beers. What kind of beer was it? It was some stouts.

I'm trying to think where that it was from Walkins Glen, New York is where it was from.

And you kept it in the boiler room at the time and it was very warm.

So we had a lot of beer from Walkins Glen. I think we went to like two or three distilleries there on our way from moving from Michigan to up to Maine for the Coast Guard. And we, me and your mom had stopped there and bought some beer. And then we brought it with us to Michigan. And it was like your first summer there, first, maybe your first school year. And we had a bunch down there and we were just kind of easing our way through all that. We had like a couple cases of it. And this lady comes and knocks on our door. She's like, Hey, I think all this booze is yours. And I got defensive. I was like, well, how do you know what's mine? I mean, what makes all that money? You can go buy most of that stuff. She's like, well, this is Walken's Glen beer. And she's like, I know almost everybody in Booth Bay Harbor. I mean, and I don't think anybody's ever been to walking.

It's a small town. Everybody knows everybody.

It's on the coast and you know, everybody does know everybody. So let's taste this thing. I don't think that that tastes any different than, than the regular plants. A little sweeter, not too much different at all. And maybe that's cause that's it. That's that 10 points higher on the proof. Maybe I don't know. I get more honey out of that. almost a sugar smackums. Um, you remember eating sugar smackums as a kid? No, no. What kind of cereal did you eat as a kid? I don't even remember.

Uh, I was more of, uh, uh, Reese's, uh, puffs and, uh, the, uh, Reese's puffs. Um, let's get your mom loves those things.

The cookie crisp cookie. Yeah. Cookie crisp. That cereal is not my jam. I like the frog, the sugar speckles. I still eat those today. What, sugar smackums?

No, the Reese's. I'll go out and get some Reese's. Eat that to this day. I'm almost 30 years old and I still eat that. I don't eat the healthy stuff. Would you pour Blanton's over it?

No, I won't waste good Blanton's on cereal. So what do you, what do you think about this gold?

Like you said, it's not too much different from, uh, the land straight, but, uh, it's still good. I like it.

And I think that new MSRP on this in the United States is $125. Would you, do you think you'd spend 125 on it? If you had $125, would you spend 125? If I had 125, I would like just, just rolling around money.

Yeah. If I had, you know, rolling around in money, I would, but you're not at that point in your life right now.

Not yet. Just got to wait for old bad to come down to still making rank too. So I come down here and bring that to you. So I think this is a pretty good bourbon. I'm glad they said, Hey, let's give our, consumers in America, this stuff, let's give them another expression. Yeah. And, uh, and people are getting it. I think maybe that, maybe that was the thing. They saw people like me getting and stuff, posting photos of it and Hey, where'd that guy get that? And get their hands on bottles and stuff. Cause you could definitely get your hands on a bottle, but it would cost you. Now this was a gift to me. So it was free for me and I'm almost happy to get it. So let's finish this up. So that lady that come to our door, I had to admit to her, I said, well, that is that, yeah, that's our beer. I, I definitely bought that in Watkins Glen, New York. Um, and then you, you, you got punished a little bit. We're not going to go through with the punishment. was, but you definitely got punished, right?

Yeah, the next day was pretty rough for me.

Yeah, it was a rough day.

It was a rough day for all of us.

It hurt me more than it hurts you.

It's a learning experience.

Are you going to say that to your son?

Hopefully he never does it.

But you don't think, hey, this is going to hurt me more than it hurts you? I'm sure it will. Yeah. Cause it's tough. Well, I'll tell you this. Cause you told me you was like, I got some good alcohol back there. I don't want them to touching that. So you'd said that you would want to have a girl too. And I will just tell you this raising a boy and raising a girl are two different things. Um, that's what everybody said. I don't think a little boy or even a teenage boy will ever make you cry. You won't lose it. You, you, you, I don't even know if I lost any sleep over you. I was just like, okay, whatever. I might've cried a little bit. when you lost a state championship in Maine wrestling. Yeah. Um, that, that hurt a little bit times in a row. We put so much effort into, into that, those years there. And, um, I, you were a teenager, so, you know, you just want to have fun. And I get that now, but, Man, I might've wanted it just as bad as you, because we'd put so much work and effort into it. Even having you drop weight and stuff, I'd have to go into the sauna with you to drop weight, right?

Making it to States though, that was a big accomplishment for me. But I mean, hey, I would like to win it. I went sophomore, junior, senior year to States, but I put in the work, but apparently not enough.

Not enough, right? Yeah. Well, hey, we've all been there at one point in our life and stuff, and that is an accomplishment too. to make it to a state championship, you know, three years in a row. And, um, you know, he's just, you were a tall and lanky kid going up against some really short kids in her weight class.

And I started wrestling my freshman year. There's kids that was, that had been doing it, you know, right when they could walk. They started, you know, they've been in it their whole life.

Well, like I was saying though, raising a girl and a boy are two totally different things. And I'm sure all the dads out there, especially that have grown kids now would say, yeah, that's two different, totally things, right? Cause a little girl, you know, she could wrap her dad around her finger. And to this day, my daughter could still break my heart in a second, either by saying something or me having to, I don't think I, I can't punish her anymore. She's 24 years old, but there's been times where I've had to give her tough love and I knew it hurt me more than it hurt her. So I'm sure, like I said, all the dads out there that have grown kids would agree with me. And you're going to feel that one day too, I'm sure. So what's your final thoughts on that Blanton's gold?

I enjoyed it. Well, you know, like before we said, it's not too much different. You can taste a little bit of difference, but it's still worth it. It's still a good bottle to open up and give it a shot.

I don't know if it's the same age or not, and I guess I should look up more on that and stuff. Um, but. I can taste more sugar on it, I think. I don't know if that's because they are the proof and stuff. And I think that's what it is. You still taste a lot more sugars and caramels inside that. So we're going to pour this third pour right here. And this is straight from the barrel. Now, I actually traded for this bottle right here and I felt like I made out. I traded a bottle of this peerless, which was a newer distillery in Kentucky. They're right there in Louisville. I traded and it was one of the Naga release bottles that was signed. So I traded for it and I felt like at the time and I still feel like I made a good trade. I feel like you've got to steal off that. You think I got to steal? That's a good one right there. So we're going to try this thing. We pour a support. I feel like if I had that bottle, I wouldn't trade it off. How many people would you let drink from this?

Probably none. Probably just keep this one to myself.

Like I'm going to do with my plans right now. I actually have a third or fourth bottle of blacks at home. I've got a green bottle too. And I think that's 80, 80 or 83 proof with the, uh, reserve. Yup. So this was a first dumped in 2012 was when it first came out. Um, seven, six, a little bit before the gold. And you can find this in the United States, um, limp kind of limited market, but I think you find it more overseas. So all three of those, all three of these bare bottles right here were all dumped in 2019 right around each other. I think one was dumped in March and then one was dumped in June. And I think you said that the other bottle I brought you was from September timeframe. Yeah.

The gold was March, the reserve was April, and the original was September.

Well, let's notice this thing. Man, I'm definitely getting some bacon spices coming through on that. Ah, that's that raisin is coming through now and it's some oak, you know. So what's the proof on this bottle right here, Jake? 125.6. 125.6.

I am getting the oak too.

You know that you can look at the bottle and see how much darker this juice is than the other juice. Definitely a nice expression. Let's go ahead and taste this thing. What do you think?

It's good.

What are you getting out of it?

I feel like I'm getting like, it is, um, like I'm trying to get that, uh, I'm do feeling that, uh, a little bit of a charred from the barrel. I feel like I taste a little bit of that, um, slight little spice to it. Um, and then kind of spice going back down in your throat too.

Like what kind of spice, like a cinnamon or a clove or? So I get a little bit of clove and cinnamon in this one. not a bunch of bite on the back end, but a little bit. And I think that's more from the proof than from the barrel. I'm gonna get that Oak. I get that, still get that raisin, maybe I got like a rum cake or something. What's that fruit cake at Christmas time? I don't like the fruit cake.

No, not at all.

Who does like fruit cake? You. I don't, well, if you have, if you warm it up, right. And you drink it with some cold milk, it's pretty good.

That's not for me. That's not for you. No, you like that pink salad too.

Well, you got to tell everybody what it is.

Something my mom makes.

That's a family recipe from my grandmother. I don't like it. Now you feel bad, don't you?

No, I don't. You don't feel bad?

No, I don't like it.

There's some things I don't like.

I really don't even know what's in pink salad. I don't think I've ever made pink salad myself. My mom's always made it. My grandmother made it. And your mom, my mom showed your mom how to make it. And it's just one of those family things. Now me and my little brother, right? You've seen both of us devour like this giant bowl of that stuff together. Cause he absolutely loves it. Whenever he'd come to our house for Thanksgiving or Christmas time, he would, He would take in, like, Liv, could you make that pink salad? So we would eat pink salad together. It's all for you. So this definitely has a lot of bacon spice in it, a lot of those dark fruits, some maybe candied cherries or dried cherries. Can you taste that proof of difference though?

Oh, from the other two bottles? I definitely can. It always coats your mouth like...

It sits there for a second. Almost like you're eating some maple syrup on some pancakes.

It'll sit in your mouth for a minute unlike the other ones.

It's got a long finish on it. I would put this right up against Elijah Craig barrel proof. I think it would stand with it all day long. A lot of people would be like, that's blasphemy or something, but it's Blanton's. And Blanton's got a lot of love out there. A lot of people love Blanton's. People go crazy over it. They do. You can never find a bottle of it anywhere, barely.

Some, some places that have 10 cases, it's gone in five minutes.

Unless you're a big chief.

Yeah.

You can get it wherever, anytime. I just, you know, sometimes you look at stuff. This trip has been a good trip for me and stuff. I'm actually leaving Louisiana with three, really four cases of bourbon. I think I got a total of 24, 25 bottles, 26 bottles of bourbon I'm bringing back with me. And I left a little bit for you too, right? So you got lucky. It's been a good trip, Jake. I'm glad that we got to celebrate Father's Day together. We got to take a little road trip to a distillery and do an episode.

That was fun listening in. My house is always open to you. It was great having you.

What about all our listeners? Can they come down here and hang out and drink your bourbon too?

If they can get on base.

Well, Jake, hey, let's finish this bourbon up. We'll get off here. We'll drink a little bit more bourbon. Man, I love you. I say cheers to you and Luke, and I know you're going to be a great dad. Thank you. I know all the other dads out there. This is after Father's Day, but I say happy Father's Day to you. Happy Father's Day to you a little bit. I mean, I told you the other day and I'll tell you again. So if you see Jake out there, make sure you offer him a glass of bourbon. Or, you know, give me a bottle. Get you a bottle. He said he's an Air Force guy. He could always use some. So look him up. He's on, he's actually on Facebook. He's not on Instagram. I've been trying to get him to get an Instagram account. And hopefully I can get him talked into it, but you can find the bourbon road. at the bourbon road on Instagram, the bourbon road Facebook page. We actually have a group called the bourbon roadies on Facebook. Come in there, join us. We have master distillers. We have industry leaders. We got guys like me, the bourbon bullshitters that just like to talk about bourbon. We like to share bourbon. Um, anything bourbon, we want to experience that culture with you, put your photos in there like Jake has, and, uh, you can find me at one big chief on Instagram and you can find Jim at J Shannon 63 on Instagram. So we'll see you on 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 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 in 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.