Bottled-in-Bond. It’s one of the revolutionary moments of American history, but has also become near and dear to many bourbon drinkers with good reason. We covered the in and outs of bottled-in-bond with Bernie Lubbers back on Episode 089 and it’s part of our Bourbon 101 podcasts. Since we know why bottled-in-bond is important, it’s time to find out who Bourbon Pursuit is going to claim as the best bottled in bond bourbon in 2019! We blind sample our way through 12 heavy weight contenders and put them in the Bottled-in-Bond Showdown. Who is going to be crowned champion? Listen and find out.

Show Notes:

• Elijah Craig Launching Kentucky Straight Rye Whiskey: https://www.instagram.com/p/B3wt1feHdlZ/
• Amazon Gin: https://www.beveragedaily.com/Article/2019/10/21/Amazon-launches-its-own-spirits-brand-Tovess
• This week’s Above the Char with Fred Minnick talks about premium pricing.
• What is Bottled-in-Bond?
• Blind tasting of the following (in no particular order):
  • Heaven Hill Bottled-in-Bond 7yr
  • Henry McKenna Single Barrel Bottled-in-Bond
  • George Dickel Bottled-in-Bond
  • Old Bardstown Bottled-in-Bond
  • Old Grand Dad Bottled-in-Bond
  • 1792 Bottled-in-Bond
  • Evan Williams Bottled-in-Bond
  • Jim Beam Bottled-in-Bond
  • JW Dant Bottled-in-Bond
  • Early Times Bottled-in-Bond
  • New Riff Bottled-in-Bond
  • Wilderness Trail Bottled-in-Bond

Transcription:

0:00

I love bourbon, but I’m not ready to restart my career in be a distiller. I have a bachelor’s degree and I want to continue to use those skills in the whiskey industry. So check this out. The University of Louisville now has an online distilled spirits business certificate that focuses on the business side of the spirits industry like finance, marketing and operations. This is perfect for anyone looking for more professional development. And if you ever want to get your MBA their certificate credits transfer into Ul’s new online MBA program. Learn more about this online program at U of l.me. Slash pursue spirits. How fast can you go through like 15 Bourbons? I’d be done. Now if you aren’t asking me so many questions.

0:55
Welcome back. It’s Episode 224 of bourbon pursuit. I’m wanting to host And here’s your weekly bourbon news roundup. Last Thursday, heaven Hill announced Elijah Craig is launching their Kentucky straight rye whiskey. This is made from heaven hills only right Nashville which is 51% rye, 35% corn and 14% malted barley, the same Nashville that you’re going to see for Rittenhouse as well as Pikeville with an SRP of only 2999 Elijah Craig Kentucky straight rye whiskey will first launch unlimited markets of North Carolina, South Carolina, Georgia and Oregon in January of 2020. Now, when you hear about a release like this, we typically hear about most people, especially in Kentucky, being kind of upset about its lack of market penetration. So we actually reached out to our contacts at heaven Hill to see what the response was. And this was a decision by the brands to focus on markets based on a variety of needs. This could be from building a brand on premise competitiveness and a particular market or too slow roll a product based on age inventory. For this release, there was no one single reason but you can read more about this post on Instagram with the link in our show notes. Jim Murray’s whiskey Bible has announced that last week his top whiskey of 2020 was 1792 full per second was the 2018 William drew Weller and third was the 2018 Thomas HND, meaning that Sazerac swept all top three whiskeys of the world for Jim Murray’s whiskey Bible. Now continue on the trend of Buffalo Trace, they are also releasing their next installment in the old charter oak series called Canadian oak. In late 2018, Buffalo Trace announced its old charter oak series, it’s a collection exploring the different taste profiles of barrels obtained from trees grown in different countries, climates and soils. For this newest release, Buffalo Trace obtained a small number of barrels from Canada and filled them with mash number one. This is the same Nashville us for Buffalo Trace and Eagle rare Canadian oak trees differ from a American oak trees that they are harder and have tighter grain structure, which affects the bourbon as it ages. The old charter oaks Canadian oak was aged for 10 years and will be available in retail in late October. The suggested retail price will be 6999. While we’re talking about new releases, let’s not forget about angel’s envy and their annual cask strength release. angel’s envy cast drink begins West standard angel’s envy bourbon, it’s made with a Nashville of 72% corn, 18%, rye and 10% malted barley, aged first in new charred oak barrels, but finished in barrels at once held port wine. As these barrels are tasted throughout the year. A few are set aside to age longer MB bottled at cash drink for its special annual release. This year’s release will clock in at 122.4 proof with seven different ages as port finished bourbon of 689 10 1314 and 15 years old, that are missing To create this final blend, the bottle will come in a packaged in a wooden Art Deco style box for a suggested retail price of around $200. And the last release we’re going to talk about isn’t actually bourbon. It’s not actually even whiskey. It’s a gin and it’s called tow service. And it’s only available in the United Kingdom, France and Germany. This is a big deal because the owner of this brand is none other than Amazon. Yes, Amazon is getting into the spirits business. And this is now available to order [email protected] this is another one of those things that we may see as a small ripple but could potentially end up being a tidal wave years down the road. You can read more about this with the link to beverage daily com in our show notes. Bottled in bond. It’s one of the revolutionary moments of American history but has also become near and dear to the hearts of many bourbon lovers and with good reason. We covered the ins and outs of bottle and bond with Bernie lovers back on episode 89, and it is also part of our bourbon one on one podcast on our website. But now, since we know why bottle and bond is important, let’s move on to what bourbon pursuit is going to claim as the best bottled in bond bourbon in 2019. We take a total of 12 heavyweight contenders and put them in a blind and what we’re calling the bottled in bond showdown who’s going to pull ahead and become the champion this year? Well, just wait and find out. All right, let’s get down to it. Here’s Joe from barrel bourbon. And then you’ve got Fred Minnick with above the char.

5:36
Hi, Joe from barrell bourbon here, myself and our master distiller triple Stimson spend weeks choosing barrels to create a new batch. We meticulously sample every barrel make sure the blend is absolutely perfect. lift your spirits with barrell bourbon.

5:50
I’m Redman Aiken. This is above the char this week’s idea comes from Patreon subscriber Brian Shabbat. He asks should bourbon enthusiasts stop complaining and embrace premium pricing for premium bourbon. MacAllan. 25 year old for $2,000 is acceptable. But 1500 for Pappy 20 is considered price gouging. Brian also wants to know what’s the possible economic implications for premium pricing. Now this story really goes it’s really goes back to the 1960s when bourbon is kind of changing its business model up until the 1960s. You saw bottled in bond bourbon and even straight bourbon is really kind of competing with scotch as a premium on the shelf even cognac so cognac would have been you know another brand he’s would have been considered the creme de la creme and scotch and bourbon were kind of, you know, neck and neck scotch was also dubbed more blends they were so this was when scotch was predominantly a blended category. Now the 1960s scotch starts going toward a more premium ization and they focused on single malts, while bourbon decided to do things like lower their proof points from like 100 or 107, to 86 and 80. And they started becoming the everyday man’s whiskey. And so they were basically setting the market up to take on the blue collar workers, the people who were fixing sinks and doing construction and in the military, everything that they were doing was really geared around people who had a budget. Well, scotch was focusing on the people on Wall Street and bankers and people who own businesses. They put a lot of effort into, you know, building this esteem. At the same time, they were also putting away whiskey. They were putting away a lot of whiskey, though at age up to you know, 50 years and today we see him coming on the market for a million or more at auction. Now today, bourbon is so popular that distilling have had to increase your prices to kind of deal with demand and it’s often gets pushed back. And there’s one brand that always comes out as unpopular in this conversation. And that’s Pappy Van Winkle. Now, when we when Brian asked about 1500 dollars for Pappy 20 it always has to be pointed out that the distillers are not the one setting that price that is not the MSRP for Pappy Van Winkle. And so the argument can be made that the MSRP is for these premium Bourbons don’t necessarily reflect what people are willing to pay. So the question is, should people increase their suggested retailers price? Yeah, I don’t know. I think it’s still pretty cool to have a glimmer of hope that maybe you can get a bottle of four roses limited edition for the MSRP of 100 or 150, or whatever it is versus 500 to 1500 that you’ll find it in some retail stores, but it also gives bourbon a little bit of a black guy. As It’s never good to increase prices 200 400 600% year after year after year, and that’s essentially what’s happening right now. So there is a way to increase prices, and I just don’t know what the best way is. scotch on the other hand, doesn’t seem to be short of those million dollar bottles anytime soon. And that’s this week’s above the char. Hey, if you have an idea for above the char become a Patreon subscriber and share with me your ideas you can check us out at bourbon pursuit on Patreon. Until next week, cheers

9:41
Welcome back to another episode of bourbon pursuit the official podcast of bourbon and today Yeah, yeah boy. We are the trio we’re back here again with an awesome as can be a fun episode. But first, you know, I gotta say that shout out to hotel distil. This is where we’re recording today. We’re actually in the barrel room here and this is located on historical Whiskey row is going to be opening on November 1 here in downtown Louisville. It’s going to be a place that has, you know, first we talked about it on the last podcast, it is used to be the home of JTS Brown. It’s got an exciting history and it’s now transformed into this beautiful beautiful space. So it’s going to be designed to really ignite your passion for discovery and will be the anchor for levels revitalization and refinement of bourbon culture. You can book a your true authentic experience and stay at Hotel distil.com

10:31
So is it that is it is it is very nice.

10:34
Yeah, very sweet. Excited now I’m excited to kind of see what’s going to happen if you’re watching this on video they talked about so they haven’t these barrels behind us and they’ve got taps on them they’re gonna be having barrel aged tap cocktails like right here with inside of this room. So I’m kind of I’m kind of stuck. Yeah, they

10:48
will actually be aging in the barrel. They’re going to be in like a sleeve or a bladder, because that’s the only way you can technically do that legally.

10:58
Like Like a bottle of wine. So They’ll

11:00
be they will be pre like Franzia. Yes, it’s like the bag.

11:04
Yep, front front.

11:06
The back before

11:09
I’ve done it on a boat once or twice. Yeah. So if you’ve never played that game before, ask somebody that has a boat on the lake in front. Franzia.

11:17
Alright, so that’s the bag. Let’s go

11:19
All right, let’s go. So what we’re gonna do today is we’re going to slap the bottle and bond This is going to be the bottled in bond showdown. So we are selecting what we can find as one of our favorites have 12 different bottle of bond every day and I think we got one that’s outside of Kentucky we got one George decal, but the other ones these are all Kentucky. And you know, this was a combination of grabbing stuff in our basements heading to go into the liquor store and, and, and finding these and, you know, I think it’s gonna be kind of fun to kind of go through this because, you know, Ryan, I’m the I’m going to test your knowledge real quick because you know, we’ve We’ve talked about bottle on the bottom on the show before we’ve had Bernie lovers on give folks an understanding of what the bottle and Bond Act and what it was really there for. Gosh, I

12:09
feel like that’s a Fred question. I don’t know.

12:12
I’m gonna put you on the spot here. Let’s let’s do flex some

12:14
civil so we’ll get it we’ll get him back. Okay. Well you know it has to be at least four years old right?

12:19
Huh?

12:20
It has to state the distilling season. Is that right? I don’t know if it’s

12:27
distilled in a singer to be distilled in a seagulls

12:29
Yeah. Okay. See I’ve already got it wrong keep going 100 proof obviously as being bonded warehouse now obviously. The what else am I missing?

12:41
So it has to be distilled at one distillery in one distilling? $1 one. Okay. And has to be 100 proof at least four years old. Gotcha.

12:50
Yep. So I hit them all. You

12:52
hit all the major points and then they need to disclose the the distillery and all that stuff where it’s bottled. Yeah. And this is it. This is a Guys, I, I know we see this on the bottle and we look at it for like quality purposes. But I want people to realize how important the bottle and Bond Act of 1897 was it First of all, Grover Cleveland signed this into law. This was his last thing he signed in his in his first term. And he was the, you know, the bottle and Bond Act was really our very first consumer protection legislation as a country. So now we have all these protection measures to help us as consumers and it really begins with bottled in bond with the government trying to protect us from bad whiskey. And then, but medicinal circles and it’s important to note that they’ve had a lot of backlash like the blenders and the rectifier. Canadian whiskey makers were very much against the bottle of Bond Act. So this was one of the first times that the Kentucky distillery community banded together for a single cause and that was to get this passed. Now they just Sue each other.

13:55
They still help each other here and there but they still reasonable This is a

14:00
true part of part of the game. Now the way I feel like I’m looking at the longest shot ski ever, like I feel like I’m about to do like my 21st birthday it is we’ve got we’ve got 12 different Bourbons that are lined up and these were, these were ones, you know, we’ve got one that is kind of the newest addition to this, which is the new seven year old bottle and bond. And you know, there was, it was funny because I was actually going trolling to the liquor store last night and I was I was actually flabbergasted. I was like, man, I forgot how many bottle of bond Bourbons there were out there. And then Natalie that is a great values to well, and that’s what they usually are typically good values. But you know, some of the ones I selected, you know, I was going through and I was looking, you know, there were also you know, there’s there’s bottle of bonds that are coming from Oregon and other places. But I said let’s focus on some of the stuff that’s pretty regional that or should I say not regional, but pretty national can be found on a national level. at the same exact time. You know, there’s also a lot of Bourbons out there that are hundred proof, but it doesn’t actually say bottled in bond or bond. The word bond is not on the package. So I just overlooked it and said we’ll go on that Yeah. And then you know probably there’s there’s probably two more that should be in here that just couldn’t bring it to get our hands on it because this is Louisville and people go crazy because it’s bourbon is the EH Taylor brands so the small batch and the single barrel are not a part of this big idea. I saw that bottle and I was going to bring it in but I was like, I’m not gonna share that those fuckers

15:25
I’m kidding go the value for giving me the other side of this is we didn’t choose any of the highly allocated releases. You know, the old Fitzgerald spring and fall releases the Parkers 24 year bottom bond also we also didn’t bring any media samples. So these are all things that we actually physically purchased and that’s very important to note because most competitions are they get their whiskey from the supplier, so the distilleries will send it into the competition. So these are guaranteed all have came from a retailer.

15:58
Well, Justin full full disclosure this seven Hill bottle and bond did come from heaven Hill really this was the media sample they sent everything else though has been purchased by us in some way in some way shape shape or fashion it’s a it all goes in the bourbon pursuit credit card

16:15
right that’s right so so that’s why we’re not getting checked on this person.

16:21
Alright, so let’s go ahead Well, we got we got 12 to go through so we’ll dive in kind of start with the first kid I

16:27
remember we I said wanted to talk a little bit about the the

16:32
smell my glasses, so I’m just trying to make sure that there’s the same because they’re not number. First of all this tasting is is is flawed because we don’t have the same glass for every one of them. So we will now have to like take into account some of them are neat pores are neat glasses. I would say we’ve got 95% majority Fiverr and the Glen Campbell and Karen but this is that this is close enough.

16:57
fault brought the nega Lazarus That’s the only thing I can tribute it was the wrong glass.

17:02
But it’s okay but so that’s the it’s the only thing and this is this is actually a pretty small flight for like a for like a blind tasting this is all blind we don’t know what we know that these brands report but we don’t know in what order and as we’re tasting you know we’re gonna find out what we gotta gotta eliminate all you gotta eliminate and everything but I think we should we should also give our notes to the audience as we’re as we’re thinking.

17:27
Absolutely. So we’ll go with number one I you know, for me, I’m going to be excited to kind of see how this is going to go down because what, two years in a row, Fred’s over there talking about Henry McKenna being the best there is in the world and yet now we’re let’s see, now we’re going to now we’re going to

17:43
that was in that was in a competition by the way, I was just one Judge of like, 40. Now I’m one of three.

17:51
We’re narrowing it down. We’re making the competition better though.

17:54
The first one, I’m definitely picking up some grainy notes.

18:00
These are gonna be Yeah, they’re all gonna be young.

18:02
So when they’re gonna, you know, there’s there’s definitely going to be some

18:06
that are. Most of

18:08
them I’d say are probably for younger, right, you know, we brought in. They can’t be younger than for for older. Yeah, yeah. So the one thing that I think is we’re going to find unique as we go through here is there’s gonna be one that’s going to be sort of an outlier. And that’s going to be the 1792. Because the bottle and bond that the 1792 pick is actually a store selection, right? So it is a single barrel, it’s a one off, it’s not going to be some of the the normal 1792 UCO. Let’s just

18:36
take that I know what do we want to do are we want to rank them one through three, or we want

18:40
to say best, I’d say you pick your top three.

18:43
Let’s pick our top three. Okay, so by tasting number one, I’m eliminating it from my round, it’s just too grainy. It’s very alcohol forward.

18:52
If you were to if you were to try to pinpoint number one

18:54
and number two, number two, if it’s not the decal one

18:59
I’ll be sure Then you shouldn’t be at San Francisco anymore. Yeah,

19:04
that’s number two’s nose. Yeah,

19:06
that’s, that’s deco all right? Yeah. But you know, and the thing is like, this was a the decal is a recent entrant to the market. And I think it’s it’s gone over fairly well with the community of people that are, you know, getting into it trying Tennessee bourbon and stuff like that. And so there is an opportunity to actually have George tickled, so be a part in here.

19:27
So what’s our teen year in it?

19:28
So this is so this George decal doesn’t have an age statement on it. They do have it they have a 13 year release. Okay. And this is the non age dated version though. Yeah.

19:40
actually enjoy it.

19:41
Yeah, I mean, one one thing I would say about decal Is it is it is often flawed and competition because it that particular note, that kind of like morality, the Flintstones a note really can stand out in a bad way for a taste Yeah, so if you’re in if you’re tasting a sea of things that are very Carmel forward and vanilla, and you get that note it can be very off putting or it can be very good and can help it stand out and yeah, so it’s like it’s one of those it’s either love it or hate it in competition.

20:16
Yeah, that one I didn’t get the vitamin D on the front end but it’s really there on the finish

20:21
on I would recommend I would recommend Also make sure you rent when you get like some of that lingering,

20:26
lingering taste in your mouth and kind of rinse it out. Yeah, I could see that. I mean so frightening number one was read.

20:32
Just Yes.

20:33
I would say if I’m if I’m and this is the hardest part of a blind tasting is picking out what it is right. But I would say it’s definitely one of the younger ones. I probably put it in a league of like JW dance or, you know, maybe, maybe the Evan Williams but I don’t know.

20:52
Okay, kind of the month ago, it had like a cinnamon spice finish that I usually get an old old markdowns, maybe that could be way off.

21:00
I’ll tell you to it it is like, if you’re focusing on what it is instead of right what is best in the flight, then you’re not then you’re not focusing on the tasting. So I will will start I would recommend like trying to like figure out what they are later because that can actually be fun and I’m already

21:18
moving on to number three is notebooks like a notebook so you can pick one of them just said negative negative that’s how I that’s how I did it.

21:26
Now I just moved on to number three now I love the nose on number three I thought of this that’s great care Marburg can move forward. Yeah, nice to the taste ended up being a little I don’t want to say bitter but kind of thinned out and a little astringent towards the end. So I like you give the thumbs up in the nose. The taste is like in the middle and the finishes kind of

21:47
blow I actually think the the the palates got it like this kind of a cool lady. That’s got like a KoolAid aftertaste.

21:55
Yeah, like fake sugar. Yeah, like, kinda it’s process flight. Kinda we hack Kool Aid packs like when you take a Crystal Light pack and just

22:05
you just spoon Did you forgot to

22:07
put water in it?

22:08
Three put three is a maybe

22:12
it’s a maybe

22:14
it’s a maybe it’s a maybe when we go down here and

22:17
there’s a chance

22:18
there’s it there is a chance that it could it could go somewhere. Yeah. So Fred kind of talk about, you know, when we got all these bottles of bonds up here. I know you’ve got a you’ve got a hard on from McKenna a little bit, but kind of

22:33
blind tasting candy. There was

22:36
help. That’s what he told

22:37
me. It’d be like a $10,000 scotch. Wow, it’s just one vote in that I’m bad at them.

22:43
You know, I guess Fred, you know, one one new entrant that we actually have up here that I think is might hopefully blow some socks off. And it’s kind of a riff, new riff, right,

22:54
focus on what it is focus on the whiskey. No,

22:56
no, no, but I kinda want to talk about you know, new riff and You know how they got late You guys are just like we’re trying to work here. He’s like

23:08
now I’m gonna think it’s a new roof now.

23:10
Well, I mean, I just kind of want to talk about you know, their bottom and bond, you know, coming into the market and actually having that be their first entrant. Right and I think wilderness trail did the same

23:18
exact number four was new rip and while he’s talking about it just happened to be it now.

23:25
Now that I actually do like number four, I gotta days like new roof.

23:31
I like butterscotch kinda like no

23:33
it’s like he planted

23:35
like a cinnamon note on the back of

23:37
their cinnamon but it’s like a lot of

23:40
it it’s got that fried pie crust that I love fried pie crust man you got you got some awesome tasty between you and Ryan I I gotta I gotta up my game on it that’s for sure. You’ve got to eat a lot. That’s why do eat

23:52
a lot. The thing is, is none of its fake. I know people want to say like it’s it’s hate but this is like I mean I’ve really trained and stuff And really tried to connect to everything I’ve ever tasted. And it all goes back to when I’m trying to get better from Iraq and I was using mindfulness techniques and tasting and I would use to one of my therapy things was I would break down what barbecue potato chips tasted like and felt like on my tongue and that would help keep me grounded and I just applied that to bourbon and so that’s kind of been my my technique.

24:25
So start off with going down your local local grocery aisle finding different kinds of chips and pulling the real thing Yeah, and you mean you got to gain 10 pounds automatic

24:36
the risky take

24:37
grab like 10 varieties of fried apple pies, you know those?

24:40
Well, I’ll grab 10 different varieties of like hot pockets and we’ll start

24:43
right then you’re born You

24:46
know, I’m not a hot soccer guy now back in college Pop Tarts and like crucibles Yeah.

24:50
You know, I used to be I did love toasters turtles because you get to design your own art on there. Yeah.

24:56
Oh man. But the thing is, is like with the Pop Tarts like I only go two flavors. It’s brown sugar, cinnamon and then the wild berry like those are the only two that I would actually go for beyond that, like I’m not a strawberry jam person like, clones

25:09
never really did like number four by the way. Yeah, four is really good. Okay, there’s a check for me. Where’s the checkbox? Yeah,

25:15
going to five Alright, moving on to five here like that.

25:18
It’s hard to analyze color in here because it’s so dark. Yeah. But

25:24
yeah, I mean you got we got it. We got a variety variety really grainy.

25:29
You mean on the nose? It’s getting a little too grainy for him.

25:32
It also but it does have like, it does have like that.

25:37
You go to the fairgrounds and they’re serving the cotton candy you go to the cotton candy booth is

25:42
that cotton candy so I got some raw notes or something. I mean, when I just had a taste and I think you kind of get some of that that cotton candy and a little bit on the back of it. You get some grape Kool Aid.

25:53
Yeah, it does kind of kind of funky. A lot of raw notes on that. For me anyways.

25:58
So all that’s pretty Though I’ll ask you all When was the last time you all had some some of these other bottle of bonds that are just you know, regular kind of shelf stuff so like old Bardstown old grains.

26:11
Like this is old Bardstown. Yeah, you think? Yeah, I think this is old Bardstown. Number five.

26:16
Yeah, I now think it is.

26:18
Because it has that like a particular oak note in there that I get from their, from their stuff.

26:23
I mean, I’ve always early times for me like an always

26:27
early, early times. I mean it’s,

26:30
I haven’t spent a lot of time with early times.

26:34
But of what we have up here that I’ve been drinking the shit out of his new riff and I’ve been I’ve been drinking so much of their cash drink stuff, you know? That was so good. It is I it’s

26:48
It is incredible. What they’ve been able to accomplish. Okay, so we go to the

26:53
glass, it’s not

26:54
a Glencairn. Well, I think we we definitely made a mistake of not labeling these glasses either because now me and you are literally like three four little accounting like what’s we’re on number six already and we’re trying to like go through these yeah

27:08
so I do like the nose on I do like this a lot

27:12
this is probably my favorite knows this far everything you want in America knows oh my god

27:17
that’s good that’s kind of full package right there yeah that’s a full package that’s a that’s a check check plus from what what else

27:23
so let’s when we say full package What are you what are you putting that in reference to what is your What is your baseline that in bourbon I’m talking about in life in life? What’s your baseline for a full package? Can you

27:33
want me to just hit solid Are you referring to package

27:37
Gosh, last time I’m drinking with you all and again

27:40
often by now maybe I’m so glad we picked this over like lawsuits or something. They were like texting last night and I like put my phone down for like an hour and I come by or 30 texts and I’m like, we’re not doing these. We’re gonna do the bomb bomb.

27:53
It’ll be much more files wave.

27:55
So anyway, my full package will be like what I kind of think of it is like it just hits the checkboxes Got the nose, it’s got the flavors. And when I think of flavor, like it’s nothing that’s it’s nothing that’s crazy. It’s nothing that is off the wall. It’s a one off like it is it is hitting, you know, most of the high notes that you get on a bourbon flavor will you’ve got caramel, you’ve got oak, you’ve got pepper, you’ve got some of those things, and it still lingers just a little bit now all these being 100 proof. We’re not going to see something that’s going to sit there and just like the finishes, keep going and going and going, right? I mean, I think we will, maybe we will, but I would think with 100 proof and I’m not going to act like I’ve got a refined palette by any means. But I think that I typically only see that happening with barrel proof whiskey is something that like I could still sit back like 30 seconds later and it’s still like those flavors are still coating my mouth my tongue

28:49
sometimes I get on that. If you have like, I’ve had a lot of good for roses, like the hundred proof. What is it?

28:58
Single barrel single barrel, sorry. VOB SV

29:01
Yeah, that like, you can tell the spices from the grains and not from alcohol and the finish just kind of lingers on there. And so that I really liked that one. The finish was a little flat for me, but it hit all the checkboxes on

29:15
Friday night solid six had some layers to it. I would say revisit that one. We like when we’re done here, because that’s definitely a contender.

29:23
Yeah. Hopefully we’re not doing like confirmation bias on each other. And we’re just like, Oh, yeah. Oh, no,

29:28
I disagree with you. I will totally tell you. Yeah, but that and I know that Ryan will be quick to say, Yeah, fuck you, you know. So but in his own way,

29:39
own heartwarming way that thumbs down.

29:41
You know, he’ll be like, well, I don’t really. I don’t really agree with you on that. But I know where you’re coming from, though. Yeah, Fred. I agree to disagree with you. And then Kenny will be like, well, I just don’t get that. Yeah.

29:55
It doesn’t have

29:56
to be that or I’ll say it. Let’s change this. Let’s change the subject real quick.

29:59
What does that mean? The next one, what

30:00
does that look like? But seriously on to the next one?

30:03
I got my first Neagle, SB to number seven, I think we all got new glasses changing everything. You know if I’m

30:09
gonna if I’m going to go on a limb if we’re gonna if anybody’s gonna guess on one thing I’m going to say number seven is gonna be the old granddad bottle and bond. I just I think it’s, it’s okay. It’s basic. It’s either me that or it’s Evan Williams. It’s one of the other, but I feel like it’s just, it’s cool. It’s like there but I don’t think

30:26
like I don’t think it’s all green. I don’t either know, this. I think this is 1792 that’s what I was gonna say from the nose. It’s got that you talking about Nana’s guys that you’re bananas.

30:36
You know, as there’s one thing that Ryan brought up a second ago when you talk about four roses, you know there’s a there’s a few distilleries out there that that don’t come out with a bottle and bond product for roses and wild turkey or or two of them that kind of come up to mind.

30:51
You want to know why?

30:52
Yeah, I’d love to know why the books

30:54
on the distilling season, actually and not bringing them in is very difficult. So like knob Creek, which is 100 proof that could have six different distilling seasons in the the actual audit of a bottle of bond it’s actually very costly. Heaven Hill has it down because they’ve been doing it for so long. And they, you know, they don’t really change a lot of those older methods.

31:16
Do they still audit for vault and bon

31:19
Oh, if they if the federal government wants to audit, they will audit and occasionally they will come in and out and they what they do they just look at paperwork, that’s all they do. You know, it’s not like they’re going in there and

31:28
taking dramaturgy. Yeah, they’re not doing anything like that.

31:31
But it’s, it’s it’s pretty fascinating

31:34
to see. Really getting finished, kind of lingering.

31:38
So do you think do you think that creating a bottle and bond product is it just more paperwork nowadays at the end of the day, and maybe that’s why wild turkey for roses and people like that, just don’t worry about it.

31:50
It always comes down to position in the marketplace. And when you look at where bottle of wine Bond was 15 years ago, heaven Hill owned it. Nobody was getting near it. No one cared. Then Bernie lumber starts kind of striking striking the bar to me he changes he changes. That man changed the perception of the bartender community for bottle of bond. And then so other people started tacking on the new distiller started coming on. They’re like we want to be bottled bond, we want to be old school. And then people like brown Forman said we need to get back into bottle the bond cc early times. You know, you see all kinds of efforts from a lot of places and people like four roses and wild turkey have always been about four roses and wild turkey. You know, so they don’t want to necessarily get and kind of like a categorical lump with those particular brands. And maybe they will maybe they will and I don’t know, but Wild Turkey has kind of been very anti 100 proof, you know, so the 100 it for them. It’s comes out their one on one absolutely like their entire branding is around one on one. Yeah. And that’s very specific. Absolutely.

33:05
Yeah, I think ball and bonds are like perfect for cocktails by the way to like 100. Like, you know, it’s just it’s a lot of them are young enough and like and there’s enough proof there that they stand up to a lot of sweet ingredients

33:20
and like the nose on a it is. It’s really nice.

33:23
And the other thing about the cocktail side is that yes, it’s got enough proof that keeps it there but you know the bottle and bond this market of what we’re looking at, we’re looking at anything from a $15 bottle up to a $50 bottle I think 50 is the high when I was going through this so wilderness trail bottle and bond is the highest near it was 50 I believe it was between the Evan Williams bottle of bond and the Jim Beam bond and maybe the JW dan, as hitting some of the the lower lower price point therapy. Medic. Medic. Medic Ryan just Ryan just choked out over here.

33:57
Yeah, I’m trying to spit but it went too far down. No point of return.

34:03
date was very green forward to me. And it had like kind of like an undercurrent of like develop grain like an cornbread, which is a note I often get in some of the beam product. I’ve got a real nice like cornbread like a like a touch of like honey butter on it.

34:19
See, the thing is I actually kind of still enjoy this one. There is there’s something about it where I didn’t like it finished. The finish is still there for me. I don’t know. I’m just gonna go the check on that one, Brian,

34:30
and I don’t like it. So it didn’t matter.

34:32
Well, no, I don’t know. Just, there’s only it’s only a 33% vote over here. So you know, that’s how it is. That’s right.

34:40
All right. So number nine. Number nine. We were rolling through these awful quickly, aren’t we?

34:45
When you got 12 to get there?

34:46
Yeah, we can have two and so on. And so I got another question I’ll throw at you all because I remember this from I think was in Houston bourbon society or one of the other was you know,

34:57
when it comes to my tastings, and I’m trying to be analytic I hate when people fucking talk to me. So this is like, throw me on. Focus hit me. Can you shut up? Can we but it may be terrible, but it’s true. Let’s let him have a

35:10
hard I’ll try the zone. Okay, all right, right on

35:13
I’m not gonna taste what you asked a question. Go ahead,

35:15
we gotta gotta keep the conversation going, right? We got to keep the listeners engaged here, right?

35:19
But you can ask Jessica I like close the door and I’m like, I’m writing. I’m doing this let me allow, you know,

35:25
we gotta we gotta make you break out of the mold here. So you’re hanging out with us. You don’t wear mascots anymore. Right? So we’re making the breakout you

35:32
fucking hot out there too. I don’t have to be on stage. So.

35:36
So. So there was I think it was a question that brought up by Wade. You know, we love Wade friend of the show. He’s got a lot of bourbon knowledge out there. And and he said, you know, is it true or false that is every warehouse, a bonded warehouse. It comes down to the law.

35:53
They not everything’s stored in a warehouse, but in terms of like, you know, they’ve been Pay they have to have it It cannot be in a non bonded the government has to know where it is. And it is it is very much on the watch list now is it a marked bonded warehouse? No, no I mean there there’s there was a artists in Kentucky arts and distillery was aging in containers shipping containers for a long time and then they were aging outside for a long time and they would later be Jefferson’s the growth growth product but the government knew what those were and they had to be that paperwork had to be submitted.

36:44
Okay, well see there’s an LG

36:46
even have to have like a bonded Kenny and I’ve rented this like when when you buy do a transfer and bond from

36:52
one to another. You have

36:54
bonded transfer like so much now. This

36:56
isn’t bond. This isn’t anything that you have like Can I just go got, I got an f1

37:01
fit no one comes in and inspects it per se, but, but the paperwork has to be there. And if it’s not, then you know, they get and when that audit comes, which the audits don’t come, you know, they don’t always come so like you could get away with, you know, doing that and, and I know people who, who distill, you know, illegally and then had a distillery and they added their old stuff into it. That was illegal.

37:25
But it happens. It does happen. So I’m going to go on a limb here, and I’m going to say number nine, it might be my least favorite of everything we’ve tried so far.

37:36
I really like the nose. But Gosh, the the finish on this, it just tastes like grass and, like, dirt. I don’t know

37:46
it. Yeah, I’m just, I’m just not a fan of it. I’m ready to move on to 10 Yeah, I mean, it was just like, okay, can this one be over because I can’t deal with it anymore. I don’t know. We might burn a bridge there. But you know, it’s just not there for me.

37:58
You got to stop worrying about the bridge. Yeah yeah they’re engineers

38:04
I don’t hate it as much as you guys but it’s not it’s not a contender for me there it’s grainy Scott alcohol undertones to it got some sweetness but it’s not it’s not it’s not an end of the world bourbon like it’s not making me mad like you

38:23
I mean he’s fuming yeah right here

38:24
I am off my rocker right now just going crazy. All right, number 10 yeah my guess moving on to number 10 we’re we’re rolling through these, I guess the thread for you Do you do these tastings a lot? Like how often or how fast can you go through like 15 Bourbons. From forest to still Bull Run distillery whiskeys are using some of the best water in the US. They’re also experimenting by agent them in different types of barrels including cognac Madeira and be known to our barrels to their whiskeys are being featured by rackhouse whiskey club in their October box made from 96% corn Bull runs American whiskey is the lightest and sweetest product they offer and has very little barrel character to it. A company that in the rackhouse whiskey club box is IP No, no more Finnish whiskey. It’s the same American whiskey but finished in French oak barrels. You really have to try these two side by side to see what barrel aging can do. And you can do that by checking out rackhouse whiskey club, their whiskey the Month Club on a mission to uncover the best flavors and stories that craft distilleries across the US have to offer rockhouse boxes ship out every two months to 40 states go to rackhouse whiskey club com to check it out. And try these unique whiskeys use code pursuit for $25 off your first box. What defines distillery to 91 Colorado whiskey is it spirit passion permeates every sip since day one distillery to 91 distillers from grain to barrel to bottle by hand, distinctive Colorado whiskey, utilizing grains from the Colorado planes and water collected from Pikes Peak reservoirs. 91 Colorado whiskey is handmade the Colorado way. Everything matters. To 91 Colorado whiskey has earned bushels of national and international awards for its spirits with the unique character and the flavor of a bygone era. Named world’s best Bry in 2018 by World whiskey awards, seven liquid gold from Jim Murray’s whiskey Bible to 91. Colorado whiskey embodies the traditions of the past, married with the boldness of the future. Find a bottle near you at 291 Colorado whiskey.com write it like you stole it, drink it like you own it. Live fast and drink responsibly. How fast can you go through like 15 Bourbons? I’d be done now if you aren’t asking me so many questions.

40:47
No, but I’m pretty quick. Like I don’t. It depends on what I’m doing. Like if I’m doing it. I’m doing it in competition. It depends on the competition. I have to adhere to the rules. I’m doing it for myself. My own little fucking thing I do whatever it is whatever it is I do or I’m just trying to taste you know the big part is is like do I have someone there helping me because I don’t always have someone helping me and it’s hard to pour for yourself and I mean we do 200 products difficult yeah but I can you know I usually try to spend two minutes with the glass thing is I my whole thing is I want to give I want to give every glass its chance you know it’s not you know someone put a lot of time and attention and effort to make it if I’m going to taste it in analytically I need to give that same kind of time and attention at least

41:38
if you do something different you you tastings multiple times if you give it a rating, right,

41:42
that’s right. I will I will taste three times because right now I’m just coming off a cold memory. I texted you guys yesterday that I lost my palate. I was like I don’t know if I can do this. I lost my palate. I woke up I went out that’s good. Anyway, bars and found

41:55
it. I feel like we’re on a level playing field and now

41:58
we’re down Last night, I wouldn’t read it is late. I went out with drinking with my friend and I woke up this morning. I’m back, baby. It’s like all that whiskey, like, cleared it. It was like so I’m just coming off the three festivals and I’ve been pretty worn down and now I’m back. And I mean today I could tell it was back but, but, you know, if you have an onion, if you whatever you have for breakfast, influences your palate, our surroundings influences. Right now we’re on we’re in a construction area that that little bit of, you know, dust smell that’s out there can influence what you’re picking up. The lights can have something the fact that someone’s saying, you know, talking out there can influence I mean, there’s so many influences so that when I’m actually tasting by myself, I like to be in a kind of like as much of a soundproof room as possible. No music, nobody bugging me. And it’s just me and the glass. You can do a whiskey quickie can take three days to

42:57
give it a thumbs down

43:00
The way you all do, that’s great.

43:01
And I guess I’ll kind of give you I’ll throw one back at you here, Fred, because, you know, we, we catch some heat every once in a while because people think that, oh, 60 seconds that’s not long enough for whiskey review in and I kind of go on the other side of that and I’m like, well, soon as you taste something you kind of realize if you like it or not,

43:19
yeah, how many times does it take? Like, do you ever come back and you’re like,

43:23
yeah, there’s no way there’s there’s not actually as many how many times I would think that you went from something that you’re just like, this is like a 65 to 95. Right? Not that big not understand we’re not scoring it on a on a on a, on a point scale here. We’re just saying like, thumbs up middle ago. Thumbs down,

43:40
right. So there have been

43:44
there been a few that went from like 80 to 85 or 88. Something like that.

43:53
Just a few points, then yeah,

43:54
I mean, it’s not it’s never really, you know, too much but It is there. And you know the big thing I think, you know, we have to what you have to what you have to determine as now that you all are kind of getting in the critic role is like what is your base? What is your base? And for me, my base has always been Evan Williams Black Label. That’s an 86 point whiskey. You know and the thing is is like when someone rates that when someone says that is 60 points or 45 points or something, you’re essentially saying it’s undrinkable. Evan Williams Black Label is very drinkable. And you know, it can be enjoyed sip, it can be a cocktail, it’s it’s very, you know, versatile and like that is my base. So if I if I find myself in a situation where I am being very low, I like I was I was writing some stuff really, really low for a long period I went back to taste Evan Williams Black Label to make sure I was not crazy crazy. And I was like, I was like No, I’m right. Because these are not better than Evan Williams Black Label and it was like it was the one that did it for me it was like three years ago it was Eagle rare 17 year old and and then that also the Parkers heritage came out that was really, really bad. And I was like, God, I mean, I’m about to write these two things under an ad. And it was like, that’s like really, really low for for those two products. And so I went back and taste that my base and it was like, Okay, yeah, I feel firm in that. So you have to like come to your base of like, what is your throne? What what barely makes your thumb up? And then what barely makes your thumbs down that that will always help you as as a reviewer, because you have to have something to lean on. Because if you know, you know you, you want to be consistent. That’s the main thing. Absolutely. Thanks to you our basis and McKenna

46:02
realize like if it’s better than here McKenna we like, yeah,

46:06
it’s not, then it’s true. That’s true. I mean, that’s that’s kind of what started us down our path of launching pursuit series was like a well, if this is better than here, McKenna will do this. Yeah. And so we had a first barrel sample and that’s for you. Well, that’s, I mean, good for you. That’s another story here or there. But I kind of want to talk about maybe

46:21
I should flip the podcasts on YouTube about why you started.

46:26
Well, we can we can we can definitely do a podcast about that one.

46:29
I did that last night. But then I was like, I don’t want to

46:33
sell but it’s all about a hotel to stall

46:34
and they won’t be self promotion. When I’m asked questions. It’s good. God,

46:38
by the way, before we go to this number 10. Yes. And I was I was I was I put check check. plus, plus, I was away. I was really, I enjoyed number 1010

46:49
was very woody for me. And see, that’s me. I like

46:54
my pain. And I’m just I’m writing that and one of these ones that Fred doesn’t like his hitter McKenna. Like

47:01
getting old so no so here so this is this is I’m not getting that So the one thing here about here McKenna is that it’s a single barrel right? It’s nothing that is it’s batch it’s not it’s not celaire age it’s not whatever it is. It is it is a single barrel offering it’s nothing else like it you know we have the opportunity to catch up with Josh Hey for one time and talk about after it one San Francisco and say like, Listen, we all pick and cherry barrels like we all just sending two bottles that you knew that are three bottles that you knew that were just like Primo pristine, like going to knock the socks off. And he said he said Kenny This is exactly what happened. I make one phone call down to the warehouse. You know right now we’ve all been in the warehouse at heaven Hill. There’s just pallets stacked up just boxes and things are moving everywhere. made a phone call. said hey, I need you to take three bottles out of a box. Here’s the address the ship them to. That’s it. There was there was no cherry picking. There is nothing like that.

47:59
Henry McKenna won Best bourbon the year before

48:02
Yes, I wouldn’t believe that but like everyone you talked to it heaven Hill had the same exact story like it same exact like it’s like they fed it to them like this. Well we need to do

48:12
I went back in the judges and you know what, when we unveiled the bottles, all the bottles for the same barrel number and, and you know so that makes it that makes that a little bit more believable is because they were they said it came from one case and you know as far as I know they case up their their barrels all the same, they don’t intermingle. Yeah. And so that is that is the only thing I can think of, and also the year before they won with with Henry McKenna. And the second thing is what nobody ever wants to give any credit to is that there are more than 40 judges there from around the world, the greatest palettes in the world and I’m not just saying that because Guys, you’re on it. But like I’m talking about people who run the hotels in Macau, people who run Wynn Las Vegas these are the these people are ultra respected for their palates. And they are human guess what they think is a honey barrel at heaven Hill. Could be a shit turd

49:25
over there.

49:26
Yeah. I mean, I gave two years in a row on my panel. I did not metal Pappy two years in a row. And you know, YP is you know Pappy is good. I mean, I didn’t metal it. So what does that say? What does that say? I mean, you don’t know how the You don’t know how the judges are going to react. And you don’t know what panel they’re going to get on. If they’re on my panel, man. Like with my panel,

49:56
we submitted pursuit series and Fred was like, I didn’t even get that on my panel. Yeah.

50:01
So you never you never have any idea.

50:03
So like, you know, so that I you know, there’s there’ll be two 300 Bourbons that come in. There’s other judges I can’t you know, and they split them out. And yes, they do make me drink vodka.

50:14
Oh god. Oh, you poor thing. The fourth thing, by the way, thanks for you making the sacrifice for doing that as well. You

50:21
bet 11th amazing.

50:24
11 so 11 I did a check minus that was good, but it wasn’t all the way there for

50:28
me. Yeah, I thought was average for me.

50:30
I love 11 a lot. I’m already on 12

50:34
Yeah, I got some like floral Really? Because I’m the exact opposite. I am I’m unique. I’m putting it 12 is as one of the bottom of the buckets for me.

50:44
I don’t know what it I’ll try to

50:46
try to it smells like floor sweeping.

50:49
Yeah, I’m not I’m just not a throw up packets.

50:51
Like Can you talk about

50:52
I usually talk about that when I talk about rye whiskey that I always get this note with some rye whiskeys of of if you recall. Back in grade school and somebody would like he had a classmate that puked on the floor and you had a janitor that wouldn’t put the shavings on top of it that’s always a note for somehow that I always get off stuff.

51:10
Yeah that’s that’s a real note that green hand whiskey had that note for me

51:17
I don’t like I don’t like it enough to put them on top three so

51:21
so i think i think it Now it’s time we go ahead but you we need to replace like your top five retail taste your tops for sure anything you got a checkbox or a yes or whatever it is that you go through I use arrows

51:35
I use arrows and like I’ll do like one arrow if I’m excited about two arrows if I love it three arrows if I’m like, about to go in the room with it, you know,

51:45
there you go. I tell you what, you know I went to I went back to number three and like three is just like coming back from from 12 the kitchen just got like super caramel knows. I put a maybe check box next to it doesn’t mean anything. me here yet as we keep going,

52:02
I left threes nose.

52:06
Three is got too much. It’s over early for me. threes over early would mean he was over early. So like, think of herbs like deal. Oregano. Sometimes those are candy, some medicinal herbal. It’s a no for me threes out now.

52:26
Yeah, that’s pretty good. I get that I’m still kind of there. I don’t know for me I’m still kind of there on it. But I’m going to exit for me. Well, I think that

52:34
if we need to report who’s reporting for us we do not need a report.

52:37
There is there is way too much out here that we do not need a report. So I’m moving I’m going to go between like 3468 and 10, maybe 11. And I’ll choose my top three out of that.

52:53
fours and for me from the nose.

52:55
I want to say it’s one dimensional, but maybe we’ve gone through this 15 times. There’s there’s something that a taste that just doesn’t have it there for me. And for me I’m looking for I’m looking for caramel I’m looking for oak, I’m looking for some of those things and for just doesn’t have it there for me. So I’m gonna I’m gonna go ahead and just kind of knock that one off my lips pulling for out of your list. I’m pulling for my

53:18
lot. It’s in his top five Remember that? No, well, that’s still good. Like, I mean, something

53:24
they might have even though they knew what it was. Anyway, I have to I had to know.

53:28
I think I think you know, you’re right. I think it was too easy to take it out. I’ll go back to it. Be only because I think it definitely deserves to be up there. It was too easy to pick it out.

53:44
And it is bourbon. It is bourbon.

53:47
And I guess you know, I’ll look it to you guys and kind of kind of pose this question to you as a stock start depleting as you know, higher aged whiskies available in the market or not very anymore really the one thing that we see that’s very common is we see 10 to 14 and 15 year old Tennessee product that is now available Do you think that’s going to help change some consumers mind about their about actually having you know very aged product that’s in the market versus something that’s only like four to six years old? I mean,

54:21
what help Fred and then they’ve given barrels kind of proven that there’s some really good stuff how many Yeah, I think I think barrel bourbon is an anomaly. They are such good blenders. Yeah. And they blend out a lot of that really unsavory note that I find in some medical

54:38
product but honestly, I just put a check plus next to deco like it was just it’s too good. I don’t know maybe. I know most of these pretty much all these except that one coming from Kentucky but there is there is something about it. That I think most people if you’ve never had that kind of product before, you gotta give it a try. Because if you haven’t and you you just immediately Oh, Tennessee screw that I’m not going to drink it and you haven’t tried it, then you’re not really giving it a fair chance and a fair opportunity because there’s there’s a lot of good products that

55:09
that you can’t get a question for both of you

55:11
know, here we go.

55:12
How do you put when you’re tasting? Like I try to surround my mouth? I’m looking at my spit cup in comparison to Ryan’s and it’s like

55:22
oh, Kenny’s been drinking the whole time empty. Yeah. Well, I mean, my mind is full.

55:30
I mean, I put a lot of my mouth to kind of surround How much do you put in your mouth to?

55:34
To find out before we talk no leaders around?

55:37
I’m doing I’m doing baby pores over here. Right? I’m just doing baby pores. It’s just enough to like, maybe coat the tongue. I think I think what you’re looking for is like an overall like, are you chewing it kind

55:49
of thing. So this is very important to me as a taster. Like I have to make sure that because if you just put a baby poor on there, you’re getting a small snippet of what that was. He is Now you all been doing this long enough I don’t have to worry about you you know discrediting at some because of a mouthful perspective but mouth field to me is it’s so important that’s why I like to make sure I can at least fill it down my jaw line

56:14
but there’s also I think something that is you also miss by by also not consuming it and being able to say like okay if we spit it out are you missing something? Well

56:24
you know keep in mind I have to when I’m doing this I don’t like 1500 so I I’d be dead which I know some people would like that but it’s not going to happen

56:34
I got talking to him over here

56:37
I got my top three

56:38
you got your top three already I went out on a tangent here

56:42
and yeah, I’m still okay I’m going back to number six because I had a check check plus i probably doesn’t mean actually going to go back to it but

56:48
yeah, I’m with you on six it’s checks all around.

56:52
Good stuff. Missy when I when I do take a little baby poor though I still I still try to get it in my jaw line. I still chew a little bit Try to have a cover my tongue Yeah, but I also am not the way that it’s just like it’s not like a full like quarter round so my mouth either right it’s I’ve got to have just enough that I can savor the flavor be able to get it to the to the point where I’m like actually chewing on my back molars

57:18
but other than that four and six are are wanting to for me or in that they’re right there. I have a run off between seven and 11 and I need to be removed from from this I need you to like you need to be kicked off the panel. No, I need I need I need to be I need these to be given to me where I don’t know what they are. is what I’m saying.

57:38
Well, you don’t know what they are.

57:40
No, I know what they are. I know this is 11

57:42
right? I know this seven. Alright, well turn around or put your hands above your eyes and just give them to

57:48
get over here. sevens on the other glass. I’m already going to know Yeah,

57:52
it doesn’t need God this is it. This is how I do things like if like if I get like really tied to a particular one. So now now what I have Do I have to like assess this from? Like, what I like more about it and so

58:05
I’m mouse like tingling right now. Yeah, he got again shot.

58:09
I need to find out which I like more seven or 11 and we may have like a tie. Well,

58:14
I don’t like either, so I’ll solve that for you.

58:17
There we go. No, I’m kidding. It’s a it’s a consensus, pursuit consensus. You know, sometimes you go back to something and you taste it. You’re like, maybe I didn’t realize I like that as much as the first time.

58:28
We’re all drinking.

58:30
Yeah, maybe.

58:31
So I’m going to I’m going to go with 11 over seven. Due to a berry, berry accentuated note that I happen to love. Bananas. Not bananas.

58:45
What is it?

58:47
No. marzipan is not marzipan.

58:51
It’s it’s cornbread.

58:51
Like a like but a particular like the Gypsy cornbread not like the like the sweeter cornbread. So I’m going with 11

59:00
So my, my, my pics are four,

59:05
six and 11

59:09
four, six and 11. Okay, so we got Fred.

59:12
I didn’t put that in order. You want me to order that?

59:13
Nope, that’s fine. So Fred at four, six and 11. Ryan, you got your top three.

59:17
I have four,

59:19
six and 10.

59:21
Oh, gosh, you guys are on point over. So I’m going to go a little bit different. I’ve got six, of course. So I think so six is by far that’s that’s, that’s in our top 11 was closed over me. I also had 10 Okay, and 11 so at 610 and 11. Okay, so six and

59:38
11 are definitely in the top two.

59:40
Yeah, absolutely. So with that, Are y’all ready? For the reveal?

59:44
What what what what’s the what’s the on the third? Do we want it because we want to do the third. So we all had like a

59:51
bullet. I had four.

59:52
And you know what he and you had four,

59:54
four. I had 1010 We’re all waiting. Like it’s kind of like a three weeks. Split right there. Yeah. So, so we basically had four 610 and 11. Were our favorites. Okay. Okay, that’s three. So we’ll just take those as the four. Are you ready for the reveal? Yeah, let’s do it. Alright. So number one. All right, number one, everybody remembers this.

1:00:17
We all kind of put an X on it. This is the wilderness trail. Ah, bottom, the bond.

1:00:22
I said, and I said, I thought it might be JW dan. So remember that.

1:00:26
There we go. There we go. Number two, we were all right. GEORGE deco. But you know, the thing is, is that like, I really enjoyed it. I, I would, I would honestly put that out there as my top but you know, when we look at stuff that’s across the market, people that are going for, I think we look at the Kentucky Bourbons of what people really want. The George decal note like you love it or you hate it. It’s one or the other. It’s okay. And so, you just got you just got to find it now. Here it is. Number three, Henry McKenna. Number three is Henry McHenry. I had XR

1:00:59
Look what I put I put a line through it. Like it and see. Let me replace it. It happens it happens.

1:01:06
I know I’ve had some McKenna’s oh they’re just

1:01:08
this is not this is not smell good. So but then again remember we talked about this so now I like it. No I don’t like it single barrel offering now it’s hits different cannonballs McKenna phone calls this one time. Number four. New Heaven Hill the new bottle and bond heaven Hill shit. Right. So

1:01:32
so it lands on the top four. Yeah, it

1:01:36
lands on the topic. I think that was number one because we were so I really liked it.

1:01:41
You did you both you both. We both put that as your number one. Yeah. CI There you go.

1:01:48
This was my second guess about it was was an old Bardstown number five.

1:01:53
You are on point. Bardstown old parts town is number five. Right? Yep.

1:02:00
I can’t remember.

1:02:01
But listen, here we go this is the one that I’m most proud about because I thought I guess it and I love this brand. I love the proctor making number six is the early times

1:02:10
body. Yeah, that six was really good.

1:02:13
Yeah, it was great.

1:02:14
Yeah, yeah, right. Exactly. So I I still stand by it. I say that is the best one liter of bourbon that you find on the market for 27 1792

1:02:26
think you think that you like somebody just like mind reading over here. I’m just like sending you like notes of Allison happening. The texts of the I really,

1:02:34
I really for him, I really do drink for a living.

1:02:37
So 1792 the bottle and bond. This was a pic that was done by the wine rack here and local and global. So that was that one. Number eight. Might have a guests.

1:02:48
I didn’t have a guest on not just a negative. Alright.

1:02:50
Well, this is probably the most common bourbon you’re finding the market is the Evan Williams. bottle and bond. Right. So there you go. Number nine is the Jim Beam Yeah, so to access to Exodus, I mean, I, I literally literally wrote down I hate doing this because I love the book no family I it’s just like I literally wrote down. I said the worst of all of it and I’m just not a fan of it. That’s just that’s just how it is. Sorry. Number 10. So for me, this was my second line. It was your third. This is new riff. Yeah, right. Okay. And like I said, this is one of the favorites that we all kind of love to 11 is JW. Dan. Fred, you had this is number three. Yeah.

1:03:39
Jayla dance. And my top five along with this is

1:03:44
this is

1:03:46
kind of one of the this is the this is what heaven Hill bottle and Bond was like a few years ago. And this is like that. Pretty close to that.

1:03:55
Yeah, absolutely. And so the last one number 12. We have narrowed it down Yet his old grand old granddad, which I actually put as the maybe the second word so so I’m sorry my sorry Jim Beam like it just for myself it was probably the bottom of the barrel for for myself

1:04:17
Can we go ahead and crown what we think is the best

1:04:21
bottle and bond from this tasting? Well would it be for if we’re going to go by the numbers and say

1:04:27
that you took 46 you took four I took six as my number one then and with that we I took six as

1:04:33
well you did you take seven? Yeah,

1:04:35
we all three. We all took sex. We all took six and so we all took six that that means that early times bottle of bond I was gonna say that wouldn’t be the one which is going to be our winner here that is And for me personally, I totally agree. I think Yeah.

1:04:50
And that is here’s the thing to you competitions, you grab the bottle, and you like you go around and you pour a little bit more of it and you toast with it because

1:05:00
Really this anymore thanks they poured they poured some heavy pours This is anyway so this is work and congratulations boys we select

1:05:08
on our very first bourbon pursuit winner of a category I think we should do more of this and

1:05:15
I’m very happy with it too i mean i think we going into we kind of we’ve always talked about we talked about army anyways,

1:05:23
I know I get cut out of every fucking conversation

1:05:28
festivals now

1:05:30
I joke guys

1:05:31
I’m really I really do like working with you guys really do

1:05:34
absolutely it but I also want to say to the runner up the heaven Hill bottle and bond. I know. I’m not surprised as much as you might want to hate it, but it was the second runner up, you know, it came it came for you all to it was the number one. But you know, this one finished in everybody’s top category. Right? So,

1:05:54
but it was like, I mean, it was I mean, it was my number one but I mean, let’s be honest. It was like fraction of a point right? It was not it was not like super I had and you’re looking at a

1:06:05
$25 price point I think maybe maybe 30 for one leader versus $40 for 750

1:06:12
not too crazy of a difference however if the newer is what video of so the question

1:06:17
is now do we like put it out on social media that we just did this?

1:06:21
We can’t spoil the surprise I will will put it out that we did it but you don’t want to put it out there.

1:06:26
Yeah, but I mean, I honestly all I will say though, as well is that new roof came as a pretty head contender up here. Yeah, it came in and the one that came to have our top three.

1:06:39
It did the one that shocked me was that wilderness trail didn’t do better.

1:06:43
Yeah, that

1:06:44
was that went on a pic of theirs recently and I was pretty

1:06:46
Yeah, they’re, they’re whiskey is fantastic. Another one

1:06:50
that but they also they also did a small batch a lot of their stuff. I mean, if you if you look at if you look at the bottle, it actually has the bottle number and everything on there. So you know that It’s just going to be continually getting you know a little bit older a little bit better as you continue to goes

1:07:05
and what else surprised me was that Jim Beam bonded didn’t do better. Really? Yeah Why is that or Oh granddad by a lot of people love that those those been bonded they tend to be they tend to be pretty pronounced with some some notes that do well for me. And they were they were

1:07:26
flat out I love beam stuff but I think it just needs time like age like

1:07:30
those not or maybe proof Yeah, it might need proof and and that’s not necessarily a good thing. Right

1:07:38
You know? Yeah, cuz from your above the char a few weeks ago he said like, proof can hide a lot of flaws. Yeah, I can

1:07:44
because you’re it’s beating up your palate. Well,

1:07:47
it’s how it is. And so, everybody, thank you so much for tuning in. You know, this was an awesome episode. Thank you for listening. You know, we hope you enjoyed this episode that we recorded here at Hotel distill. You know, it’s located here in downtown Lowell, and Whiskey row and for those that want to experience it find something new even find a space that you can actually be a part of with no whiskey row if you want to stay here like that’s that’s the actually unique experience of actually living and staying on whiskey row like I know it’s a pretty cool thing so make sure you come check it out hotel distill it’s an authentic global destination you can book your experienced for it now at Hotel distilled calm, and is going to be opening on September 1 of 20. November for November 1 2019. We’ve already been Thursday at

1:08:32
the end. If you all would like to see more blind tastings. Let us know. Let us know I had a good time with you all facing with you. This is fun. Yeah, actually, I thought Kenny did a good job kind of like going back and forth with us. He did Oh yeah. Without getting too much in my tasting head. He’s

1:08:47
good at keeping the cadence going. Yeah,

1:08:49
that’s what he’s always good for.

1:08:50
Yeah, and doing the reeds I can do that right or now.

1:08:52
Well, we got a good job. We’re gonna make sure we do that. We had to make sure that we, we we stay on point. We gotta make sure we get our listeners like all the information they want to hear. hear about it. So it’s all it’s all. It’s all good for you. That’s just part of the process. It is. So cheers everybody, make sure you follow Fred Minnick on social media you know Facebook, Twitter and Instagram, bourbon pursuit Facebook, Twitter and Instagram. If you like what you hear, make sure you support us patreon.com slash bourbon pursuit. And with that, we will see you all next week.

Transcribed by https://otter.ai