87. Oak & Eden - Bourbon Finished With a Toasted Oak Spire

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.

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We're doing another craft distillery. We are. Who do we have today? So I've seen this on plenty of shelves and I've passed it up and passed it up and passed it up. I just kept walking past it. But finally I pulled the trigger on it. $39.99. It's Okanedon finished whiskey.

So why did you pass it by?

I don't know I just didn't get that concept of that spires beside the bottle. I guess you know I don't like tequila with a worm in the bottle either.

Yeah well let's kind of explain to everybody so they understand what we're talking about here. So most whiskies are finished in wine barrels or used whiskey barrels or rum barrels or some other type of secondary finishing to create some added flavors to the original whiskey. Yeah. What they do with this one is they insert a wooden, they call it a spire. It's a spiral shaped wooden rod that just fits through the opening of the bottle, the neck of the bottle. And each one of those spires has a different characteristic.

Yeah. This is the toasted oak one. Um, I might've got cheated on this bottle. I don't know. I didn't, I thought that juice would be darker.

Yeah. Well, I don't know that the toasted oak, well, first of all, Let's be fair, these are relatively young whiskeys to start with.

Yeah, from what we know, it's a two-year-old bourbon that, from what we understand, is sourced from MGP in Indiana. It's their high rye mash bill. Yeah, 36% rye, 60% corn, and 4% malted barley. Okay.

So it enters into the bottle and then an additional, I don't know, artifact. I don't know, you know, how long does it sit on the shelf for? So, you know, does that? Sure. I guess you could say it continues aging, but I mean, the piece of wood is not that big, right? I mean, it's a small piece of wood. It is spiral cut to expose more surface area, but I'm sure it has some effect on it.

It's gotta have something. So we're going to find out. I actually think this is 90 proof. I think it's probably up your alley. Cause that high ride. Yeah. Well we shall find out. We drank a lot of MGP lately. We have a lot of people source from there.

Yeah. Yeah. I mean it's a good solid source for, um, well-made bourbon.

Yeah. Well let's try this then. Let's try it. Let's know what was it first.

Yeah, I'm getting a little bit of youth there. A little bit of cereal on the nose. Kind of pungent for me on the nose.

I don't know. It doesn't have a whole lot of malted barley in it, so I'm not sure what that is, that rye that's coming through. Yeah, I'm getting rye on the nose. There's no doubt about it.

But it does have that corn that kind of, I don't want to say a corny. I'm going to say corny. It's got a corny nose to it. Corn dog corn. I don't know if corn dog corn bread. Yeah. Corn bread. I think more corn bread than corn dog. I mean, corn dog has corn bread around the outside of it. So I guess you were probably right to start with, but I'm a big fan of corn dogs.

Big fan. Where's the original corn dog made at? Do you know? I don't know. Coney Island? Nope. Where? Springfield Illinois. Oh really? I'm pretty positive on that. It's a, there's a little place there that's says they're the original place the corn dog was made. They have a little machine that holds like five of them together and dips it in there.

Do they have a big giant corn dog up on a, like a statue of a corn dog, world's largest corn dog?

No, but they do definitely got a sign that, you know, when you're driving down the interstate, you can see that sucker. I was driving past there and I had a bunch of guys working and I was like, we're stopping there. I'm going to have that world's first corn dog.

Springfield, Illinois. So where is that located near? In the middle of a cornfield. Yeah.

It's a, about halfway from Peoria to St. Louis, Missouri. Okay. So halfway. All right.

Got it. I kind of got in my brain. I've kind of got the general geo location.

Who's the famous that, uh, live there. Do you know?

I don't know.

Abraham Lincoln. Oh, slap me. I should have known that you should have cause he's, you know, he's famous president. Yes.

All right. Let's get back on this thing. All right. So kind of a corn four does, I'm getting the rice bias. It's a little sweet. Uh, you can tell it's a younger bourbon, but something else going on there.

Yeah, I'm not sure. I, this is tricking me right here. This has got that a second war that old Maysville knows to it. Just so much rock coming through very sweet. Um, no fruit. Like you said, just corn. Yeah, I'm ready to taste this corn.

Let's do it.

All right.

What'd you say the proof was on this? Not any proof. Okay. So very sweet, very corn forward, a little thin.

Yeah, I get all that.

It's nice. It's a little nice on the mid palette. It's got kind of a, a nice combination of sweetness and rye there. I kind of like, I mean, overall the palette is not that impressive on it. I think it's, um, I think it's good. He said this was a $35 bottle.

I think a $39.99. That's a total wine.

So yeah, the oak is definitely a very prevalent on it. I'm getting that, that sort of oak tannin on the back. I think that sweetness upfront is coming from that toasted spire that's put in there a little bit more sweetness, but it's also got that corn sweetness too. But the rice spice is a nice touch. This is, uh, I don't like it. I don't like it at all.

You don't. I hate saying that. I really, I, you know me well. I, I hate being negative about something, but this is, this is not my jam. It just has a funky taste to it, to me. And I want to like it because it's that toasted Oak and mickters has a toasted Oak and you didn't so much as like that one where I,

I loved it. I think what you're getting is like, tell me if I'm right here. It's got kind of pencil shavings. You getting the pencil shavings kind of flavor to it? I know I've never eaten pencil shavings before. But you've probably stood up and sharpened your pencil down to enough before.

I have. I'm getting something weird about this. I want to like it, but it just, That, that taste is overpowering for me. Maybe it's too much rye for me. It's too high rye. I'm not sure.

Yeah. I think there's a nice balance between the sweetness and the rye. I think it's a little too thin upfront. I do get the pencil shavings though. And that, that sort of, uh, and that probably is coming from that spire. I think maybe I'm getting like a rubber eraser.

Are you really? I'm getting something I don't like. Not magic marker though. No, I'm not getting magic marker, but I, this, I might let you take this dang bottle home, Jim. Um, man, I feel, I feel bamboozled that I bought this. I should have passed it up. That's how I'm feeling.

Well, here's, here's something that we differ on. Now for me, this is probably a pass as well. All right. But I'm not going to say that I don't like it. I'm just going to say that it was like, Yeah, definitely would not buy a second bottle of it. I think it's probably something that I think it's a neat idea. And I think there's probably some potential there for some expressions that might work well. But for me, um, I think it's a little too thin. I think if it was a little bit higher proof and had another couple of years, eight years age on it, I think it'd be okay.

What's that, what's that old saying? Fool me once, shame on me. Yeah. What's that saying, you know?

Well, the fool me once, shame on you, fool me twice, shame on me.

Yeah.

So basically if you get my goat once, shame on you for doing that. But if I let you get me the second time, it's my fault.

I guarantee you, I'm not going to be fooled twice. All right. I just, for me, man, I just don't like that taste. And like I said, I want to try it. Maybe it's just,

I think there's going to be some people out there, Mike, that feel a little bit more like me. I like that balance of sweetness and spice on it a little bit. I am a little confused by that sort of woody middle note that I'm getting, that pencil shaving note I'm getting from it. But I think for the most part, I'm glad I tried it. I'm just not so sure I would go buy another bottle.

You know, I, I was, I was stationed down and I stationed down to Haiti. I was deployed down to Haiti and I was down there for about 18 months total. Um, we got down there and our boat broke down and the parts had to come from like Belgium or something, some weird place. The parts had to come from that for the engines we had in the boat. And, uh, we were just down there forever. It seemed like then we got our parts replaced and they were like, you just stay down there. But, uh, in the meantime, we're down there. We got pretty creative with making stuff and, uh, we had these two Ford lockers on the boat and there was lockers in the, down there in the Caribbean, right around 150, 200 degrees inside those lockers. You know, you're on a steel boat, steel deck above it. So we chunk up some fruit and put it in there. Now you've ever drank any hooch? Oh yeah. We made some hooch and I'm getting those flavors in this right here. Just too fruit forward for me. Um, too, too young. I don't know.

So this, this is definitely shows its youth. There's no doubt about it. It is corn, corn, corn, but it's got a nice rye spice kind of kick to it.

I could see you whenever I smelt it. I was like, Oh, I think Jim's going to like this and that no one that has that rice spice to it, but I don't know. I just, I'm not getting something. It's not opening up and I hate doing that to a company. I hate, but we're, we're trying to be honest. Um, sure.

So for me, Mike, I don't know that I would certainly not gift a bottle of this to somebody. I would be hesitant to share it with somebody. but I think it would make a fine mixing whiskey. I don't think it would, I think it would be a compliment to probably a mule or, you know, something else. I don't think that this, for me, I don't, I don't call it my daily sipper. I wouldn't sit and sip this on a daily basis. I wouldn't go buy a second bottle, but I'm not, I'm not going to give it away.

Well, I definitely wouldn't give it to somebody. You said you'd give it to me. Well, I would give it to you. You'd bless me with it, right? Because I know you, because I know what you do. I know that you would pour it in a mule and drink the hell out of it. I will. I don't know. I might try it in the meal just to see how it tastes with some ginger beer or maybe some ginger ale or something or some old L8-1. I'll give it another shot. I think it might even make Coke taste better.

What do you think?

I don't know. That's going to be tough.

That's going to be real tough.

I mean, I think, I think we proved on a show that larceny is pretty bad ass. Yeah. This right here, I just, I really, you know, me, I've talked about that before. I don't want to beat the company up. I would probably have to find this like in a bourbon bar, one of their other expressions and try it first before I pull the trigger. Yeah.

So, you know, they have about seven different expressions of this and we may have just picked the one that doesn't quite hit the mark for you. Yeah. So I like people that step out of box and Oak and Eden has definitely stepped out of the box with this. They're trying something new. They're buying good solid whiskey from a good whiskey maker and they're trying their own spin on it and congrats to them Yeah, maybe I just need to find something different at one of their expressions to tried and this was just wasn't me, you know

I think if you're a weeded bourbon guy and that's your gal and that's what your flavor is, I don't think this is going to be your jam at all. Um, and that's just my opinion. I got a weird, weird palette, I guess anyways, but if you want something's very fruity, very, it's got fruit and spice together. Um, this would probably be your jam. Yeah.

Yeah, so if you'd like to reward a company that's sort of stepping out of the box and trying something new and you like that nice hit of spice on your bourbon, I'd say give them a try.

I wonder if they're going to get to a point where they're distilling their own juice though and they're not sourcing it anymore.

It could be. It could be. I think that, you know, one of the things that they're doing here is, you know, is sort of leading the charge and bottle finished whiskeys and somebody's got to, you know, break ground and try something new.

I could almost say this was wasn't a Texas whiskey because we've been on that Texas whiskey kick lately and trying different Texas whiskeys. And the Texas whiskeys are like double that dark. Yeah.

What are how many days and nights these barrels spent in Texas, Texas aging before they actually entered the bottle?

Yeah. I would say the body was in a controlled warehouse to, you know, where it's. you know, at least cool down and stuff. It's not that hot. Cause that's, you know, you can see clearly through it and Hey, great on Oak and Eden for stepping, like you said, stepping out of the box, trying something new, being innovative. You know, I think that's the way whiskey is going anyway. So,

Yeah. And we know there's going to be people out there with this smack dab in the middle of their palette and they're going to love it to death. So, um, if you, if that's you enjoy your Oak and Eden, uh, you know, the company is doing good work. They're trying new things and you know, all ships are raised by a rising tide. That's right. And you know, Oak and Eden's doing something new here and who knows this technology may spur off and cause something fantastic to have an Oak and Eden reach out to us. If you've got something else you want us to try, if you've got an older expression or you have some other finishing method that you'd like us to try, we'd love to do it. And Mike, why don't you tell everybody where they can find us?

So you can find us on YouTube, Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, at The Bourbon Road. You can find us, our Facebook group, The Bourbon Roadies. We're about 650 people in there, growing every day. Hopefully by the time this is out, we'll be at 700 or 800.

got three questions you got to ask or answer yeah so we want to make sure you're 21 that you know you're getting yourself into a bourbon group and then once you're in there you're gonna play nice with everybody and you know what we're about is you know sharing the experience of bourbon with each other you know tasting notes pictures trips that we've been on you know we'd love to share stories. And we also like to share whiskey, but we don't sell it.

There's, there's all kinds of discussions in there from, you know, what we're talking about on the show to people from around the globe or taking photos, talking about whiskey, talking about whiskey prices. Um, we got some distillers in there. We've got people throughout the industry that'll answer questions. And I love that, you know, a couple of great people that always step forward for us as Lisa, Wicker from Widow Jane and Pat Heist from Wilderness Trail. They're always coming in there and answering people's questions. And I feel our listeners feel lucky to have them in there.

Absolutely. So we do two shows a week. Every Monday we'll do a craft distillery show like this. And it's not always a craft whiskey. Sometimes it's one of the big boys. but we'll review a whiskey and you know then once a week we'll also do a long format show where we sit down for an hour we either talk to an interviewee we bring somebody on the show and we talk to them or Mike and I will explore some whiskeys together we encourage you to listen to two shows a week as we put out our content and Mike I can be reached at jshannon63 and you are at? One big chief.

Hey, give us both a follow and stuff, following us on there, giving us a review on any of the places that you can listen to our podcast. It opens doors for us. It helps us put out good content, helps us get great guests. I'm having a great time with this, Jim. I am too.

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