It on the next episode of Sip, suds and smokes. Today's show is our second fall release series show. So we'll start out with the 2023 old forester birthday bourbon, kentucky straight bourbon whiskey. Follow that up with the buffalo trace antique collection. We have the 2023 Thomas handy kentucky straight rye, the 2023 sazerac 18 year old Kentucky straight rye, the 2023 eagle rare 17 year old Kentucky straight rye or Kentucky straight bourbon.
The William Rue weller 2023 Kentucky straight bourbon, the 2023 George T. Stag kentucky straight bourbon making its triumphant return after being left out last year because yay, the barrels didn't meet their standard. And last but not least, from brown foreman for 2023, the king of Kentucky. We'll be right back after this break. Brought to you almost live from the dude in the basement studios. Why? Because that's where the
good stuff is. It sits suds and smokes with your smoke and host the good old boy. Hey. Yes, it's sipping time, and welcome to this Sips episode where everything good in life is worth discussing. We are the best thing on at. 02:00 A.m.. No, not anymore. Good. They move good times to 03:00 A.m.. So we might be. Really? Oh, I didn't notice. Okay, maybe we are. Yeah, we're the best. Yeah, well, not when they were at two. I mean,
please, right? I mean, it's bad enough we got to fight reruns of Carol Burnett, but you really want to try? Rerun was on. Good. Rerun was awesome. Well, we couldn't even beat that. Well, set the bar know, right? Then you're always happy when you achieve it. You don't break your ankle trying to jump over it. This is made man Bob. And joining me today are good old boy Justin. Good morning, everybody. And Maidman maury. Good morning, Bob. I am very excited to be
here. You can tell in the damp, dark, dreary basement. It's just a different one than the wife. Usually keeps him chained up. You know, he likes to get out sometimes. And good old boy Harm. Thanks, Bob. I really appreciate being here today. And I'm actually excited to be here. You damn well should be. I should be. Yeah, should be. Although, you know, it's our favorite time. Of the year, man. Oh, yeah. I mean, you can't beat the fall release time. This beats Christmas. It does beat Christmas.
This actually smells like Christmas in here to me. This is what Christmas should smell like everywhere. I wish I got all this for Christmas. Uh, I wish everybody could take notes for my Christmas list. Right. Pay attention. Christmas list. Pencil sip segments are all about, uh, distilled spirits, wine, tea, coffee, and distilled spirits. Any other thing you can drink, but mostly distilled spirits. We need to do another wine show again, but not today. I'm working on it.
If you wine on the show, it's a wine show. Well, then he would be the king, right? Yeah. Which we'll be talking about later. Today's show is our second fall release series show, because fall is when all the distilleries here in the US. Uh, tend to release all their top end whiskeys about this time of year. Um, and for this episode, we have just some common little trek here. So we'll start out with the 2023 old Forester birthday bourbon,
kentucky straight bourbon whiskey. Follow that up with the Buffalo Trace antique collection. We have the 2023 Thomas Handy Kentucky straight rye, the 2023 Sazrac, 18 year old Kentucky straight rye, the 2023 Eagle rare 17 year old Kentucky straight rye or Kentucky straight bourbon? The William Rue Weller 2023 Kentucky straight bourbon, the 2023 George T. Stag Kentucky straight bourbon making its triumphant return after being left out last year because the barrels didn't meet their standard.
And last but not least, from Brown Foreman for 2023, the King of Kentucky. So boring. What's going on, man? This is just regular stuff. I still have some fireball over there if you're interested. Perfect. I subbed out all of harm's samples for fireball to see if he'd notice the difference. I've never heard of any of these whiskeys. When are we going to drink something that the, uh, common folk like us have heard of? You guys are dumber than a box of hair. Never mind. This is what I get.
I should be kissing my ring right now. All right, so we're going to have Justin tell us all about our sips ratings. So take it away, Justin. Justin's not here today, but Robin Leach of the Lifestyles of the rich and Famous is here today. And today we are in Bob's basement enjoying some of the best whiskey possibly that may come out this year. And here are the sips ratings. One sip. Give me a glass of water to wash out my mouth. This is not up to standard Gangadine water. Painful. Painful.
Two sips. Noise. But what else do you have? Well, isn't that nice? Three sips. Interesting. What was this again? Interesting. Four sips. Let's keep this secret to ourselves. Pour me another. Just not buying it today. Five sips. Is he still alive? I don't think so. Oh my, uh, I was unaware anything could be this good. Can we leave him dead next time? Oh my goodness. Shouldn't it be champagne wishes and caviar dreams? Yes. Neither of you need to be doing this. Come on, man. Good lord. Just scary.
Fine. Maury, please deliver us from this. Six minutes, 19 seconds in already in the toilet. So, maury, tell us about our first whiskey today. I will attempt, uh, the first whiskey. Today is the 2023 old Forester birthday bourbon at 48% ABV 96 proof and, uh, twelve years old. The old Forester birthday bourbon is released every year on September 2 in honor of George Garvin Brown's birthday, the man who founded Old Forester in 1870. This is the 23rd annual release and it's
aged twelve years. The Mash bill is 72% corn, 18% rye, and 10% malted barley. Uh, the details are as follows. On May 5 of 2011, 103 barrels were filled. They were aged on the fifth floor of Warehouse I for twelve years. In terms of color, the color is rich and it's a beautiful copper. On. The nose, burnt caramel brioche, cinnamon. Talking. To the microphone. Mouth coating, viscous, deliciousness. Just coats your palate, slides on down and then the finish just goes on and on and
on. This is a perennial favorite of mine. It's one that once upon a time collected dust on the shelves as you could often find a year or two's release, uh, behind the current release. And now it's gotten more and more difficult to find where stores are often getting one bottle. And uh, if any, uh, again, a tribute to George Garvin Brown. It's a wonderful whiskey. Every year one, um, I look forward to each and every year. It's just a quintessential bourbon hitting all the notes and it's
delicious. Harm, uh, what'd you think? Um, I didn't get all the same notes you got. I got more candied orange peel when I first approached. It, uh, brown sugar and coffee on the nose. And that followed through on the palate with like honey notes and cinnamon, a lot of oak. Um, the citrus wasn't as bright. I mean, I don't know, did it go away? What did you get again? I thought there's a lot of burnt sugar and then, uh, that burnt sugar just kind of carried on and on.
And the finish is long, like you said. I got some more like, um, caramelized banana and cocoa on the finish. And the brown sugar, it just keeps going and going and going. Bob, what do you think? Having computer issue here, hold on, I. Hear that you set some sort of timer. Yeah. We'll leave you out. I don't have to answer your questions. On the nose, I got cedar, vanilla, dark berries, perfume and cinnabon. Cinnabon I'll give you the dark berries, I don't get.
Yeah, they were subtle, undernote on the palate, amazing spice on the front end. And then I got waves of mangoes, bananas, brown sugar, chocolate, orange, mango. Yeah. Really? Did you ever I didn't get the mango. No. I didn't get any water on the finish. It was like really nice backside palate, refreshing. Little bit of lemon as it was fading off. So when I put the bridge of my nose to the top of the Glen caron, I can almost get that whiff of mango. It's almost that light, floral, tropical note.
Yeah. Kind of reminds me of scotch a little bit. Yeah. I remember having a mango note on, um, Highland Park Ice edition. We were making fun of it. Then after about an hour it was like, what there? Is it's mango? Sorbet it was amazing. Sometimes you just got to let it sit out. That's the thing. But I don't get mango. I get the tropical fruit notes. Yeah, for me, it was came across as banana. Yeah. I'm not getting one in particular, but on the palate, I'm sorry. This one's very
different from any other birthday I've ever had. This one's sort of dark and sinister on the palate. Really? I didn't find it that dark compared to some of these others. It's got a beautiful it's got all things. Yeah. The flowers up front, but then on the back, the wood I'm getting on. The sides of my tongue right now. The wood is there. It's definitely woody. Um, when we first had it, it was burnt toffee way up front. It was burnt toffee right. That's where now it's completely
changed. This doesn't even taste like the same whiskey. It just keeps evolving in the glass. That's what makes this one so interesting. I love it. Layers and evolution. And the burnt toffee is there, but it's moved to the back with, like, dark molasses has moved to the back, and now that tropical thing has moved up and the floral thing has moved up. Yeah. Like I said, I was getting the flowers on the side of my palate. That tropical note, it's really nice.
Yeah. This one, I still think it's very different than any birthday that I've had. This is the 23rd release. I mean, I've honestly probably had 17 of them. 18 of them. I had most of them. I know we've done ten on the show. Yeah, I've had two and three. I'd never got my hands on a bottle, but, uh, yeah, this one's very different. But, uh, they have a new master blender. Melissa Rift. And she's great. Melissa is awesome. Um, and this is, uh, her first foray,
and I think she did a great job. We're going to rate the 2023 Old Forester Birthday Bourbon, a well deserved five sips. No, I took my glasses off. I can't see anything. What are you talking about? You look much better this way. Hey. And we're back, and we just finished talking about the, uh, 2023, uh, Old Forester Birthday bourbon. Gave that one a well deserved five sips. So let's move on to our next average
whiskey of the day. Uh, what we have to do, we're, uh, going to have Justin tell us about that one. So the next whiskey we're going to grind through is the 2023 Thomas H. Handy Kentucky Straight Rye. This is a job, isn't it? Uh, we throw ourselves on these grenades for you. Yeah, somebody's got to do it. 62.45% alcohol by volume, or 124.9 proof. So this expression is comprised of barrels aged for
six years and two months. It was distilled in the spring of 2017, aged in warehouse s on the third and fourth floors, with 27% of the original whiskey lost to evaporation. And they have these really detailed notes about how these things are made, like a milling screen number ten, what the cooking temperature was. Uh, what char? How many seconds? It was charred. So if you had a license to make this stuff and you wanted to try it
at home, you could give it your best shot. But I don't think it's going to come out this good. Yeah. You can't handle it? Yeah. So on this, I got notes of, uh, orange spray and lemon oil, caramel pine. Not super strong on the palate. Um, I got rye bread with honey, and, uh, the orange came through a little bit. One of the best handies I've ever had. Um, and the finish sorry. Somebody always. Has to go there, and the finish is amazingly long.
Like, the handies took you back to middle school, did it? Yeah, pretty much. What did you think, Harm? I agree with what you're saying, but I got more sweet notes than you mentioned. I had not just pine, but it went cakey with air. I get, like, notes of, um, like, a pound cake. You just want a pound cake? Well, I was going to make the pound joke, but whatever. Are we going to take a visit to poundtown? There you go. Pound cake. My wife better watch out. Coming home drunk. This is great.
Um, what you said about the orange and lemon is all there. I got cake coming out. Uh, a little bit of clove on the palate. It was just beautiful. Like you said, the honey and the bread. But I didn't get as much rye bread as you did. It was more honey and orange. And then the finish is very long, and then the earthiness comes out, and there's a black licorice on the long finish. It's true, maury. Yeah. I sort of agree with bits and pieces of both
of you. I actually thought their tasting notes were some of the best. I thought the whiskey, uh, almost hit me as sweet, and if I wasn't as familiar with it, I might have initially been a little turned off. But this is a perennial favorite of mine. Um, would have turned you off too sweet for you. Yeah, I was initially hit by how sweet it was. It was really like orange marmalade in a glass. And, um, that's what they describe it as orange marmalade and honey. And it was really sweet. But
you're right. Right at the very end, it transforms the finish into a little bit of oak and a very light hint of black licorice at the end, but really a fun whiskey. Again, not cloyingly sweet, but there's definitely a lot of upfront sweetness, especially coming off of if you've got anything left. In your glass, put a drop of water. I can't. I'm sorry. The smoke comes. The char from the barrel comes out.
Uh, the proof, I think, balances it. I think the one thing that's really fun about this whiskey is it's a perennial favorite. It's the youngest whiskey of the collection every year. Comparing this to the Saz 18 and the Eagle Rare 17. And yet it stands up well to all of them. It always does. And it just goes to show you, age is just a number. That's what I keep telling her. Yes. Age is just don't go to jail, Justin. Don't go to jail. She's still going to trade you in. Zazrak, uh, is an
amazing producer. This handy is definitely not one to be overlooked. A lot of people for a long time overlooked it. I love this whiskey. This one's no exception. It's totally different this year than previous years. Again, a lot of orange marmalade. I love it. And, uh, again, it doesn't disappoint. It's always different.
Yeah. Well, the nice thing about it used to be that it was the one you could actually occasionally find on the shelf, because a decade ago, the real bourbon geeks oh, well, that's not really part of the antique collection, because it's. Only six years old. But it is. Yes, it is. I mean, look at the bottle. And I would walk into a store, and I remember I found several of these just sitting on a shelf at a local Total
Wine back in the day. And I was more than happy to pick these up at retail and go through them, because it never disappoints. This one is always out of the five. It's always in my top three and usually in the top two. And this one's good. You'll never hear me say this again, but he's right. Put a drop of water in it, the char comes out. Yeah, the orange marmalade is still there. The orange zest, but it's balanced. A drop of water,
lemon zest is still there. I'm getting just that little hint of that little bit of hint of pine, like a pine forest on the nose, and it's absolutely lovely. I will bring a water dropper to the Unobtainium Grill, where I'm going to buy a shot of this. It's just, uh I am very aroused. What more can I say? Um, we're going to give the 2023 Thomas Andy straight rye a well deserved five sips. Oh, my goodness. So we're going to let Harm tell us about our next one.
Well, we're going on to another rye, Bob. Thank you very much. It's the 2023 Sazarac, 18 year old Kentucky straight rye, 45% ABV. So we're trading off, uh, proof for age here. This is a collection of rye whiskey barrels was filled, uh, between the fall of 2004 and the spring of 2005, and aged for 18 years and five months in warehouses K, L and M M on the second and third floors, with 74% of the original whiskey lost to the angels. That just shows you how much you
lose to get to how much. There's a reason that good whiskey costs. Yeah. Uh, so this, uh, came off the still at 135. Proof went in at 125 as per regulations, and it's been after the aging they brought after. And 74% loss. They don't tell you what came out of the barrel app, but they water it down to 90, um, which is totally fine with me. 18, uh, years and five months. And it's a number four char barrel, I believe. Yes. 55 seconds from independence. Dave, the nose on this is stunning.
This is probably the best sazerac 18 I've had in a while. Yeah. Uh, I think it's the best one I've had in the last three or four years. Yeah. Honest with you. Wow. Over the top. Fresh orange peel and dried orange peel combined. Those violets, the flowers from the rye. Uh, little tiny bit of, uh, anise M M on the palate. Vanilla, oak, black pepper, orange peel, violets. Um, the finish is long, intense with honey and tobacco. And, uh, again, you said
violets. I think that's your right. It's candied violets. That's the nose. It doesn't need water, but I'll put a drop in. Let's see what happens. Didn't help. Didn't hurt. It's just great. Yeah, don't water it down. Just drink it. Drink it straight. Yeah. Bob? Um, well, it's already at 90, so. You might because when you try sometimes, always try, it brings out more of the barrel notes. How many times do we say it on the show? Always try some water. Always
try some water. You never know. But, um, this was one that for years was tanked. Um, they were going off of old supply for several years, and people were well, when the tank runs out, there are some people complaining about it. I'm like, I thought it was still pretty damn good, but dear Lord, this is the best one I've had in recent memory. And this one's just really so pretty. It is very pretty. When we first poured these, it was very muted. It took air. Yeah, it took some air to open up.
These all took a while. I poured them 15 minutes before Justin got here, and then you guys came in after him. So, I mean, it's been so no. Surprise with an older whiskey that needed a little more air and a little bit more time to open up. Now, I'm getting hints of basil, but I agree with orange peel and basil. They were sort of stagnated for a little while. Not they were bad, but they weren't really evolving. And now, all of a sudden, this is a fresh approach, and bam, it's an improvement.
It's a step up. It's a fresh, uh, batch, if you will. I mean, if they still had a case of last year, the year before laying around, I would gladly take it off of their hands. But this one, to me, was the best atoms at this point. But this one, like I said, this is the best one I can remember in recent memory. And I remember some of the older stuff, the older tank stuff, and there was some really good stuff there, but this one's different. This is completely different. This doesn't remind yeah.
A couple of years ago, I remember the Sazrac 18 being very delicate. This is nowhere near as delicate. This will stand up to you. No, this has got, uh, more backbone. It's got more of everything. Reminds me of, like, midwinter's night's DRAM or dream, um, DRAM first batch. I think this is so much better. But it's much more sophisticated than that. But it does remind me. Well, the first batch of Midwestern night's DRAM was finished in orange curesaw barrels, I believe. Really?
That's where you're getting the, uh, quaidy port. Was it quaidy port. Okay. Was it the second batch, the orange curacaw? It's always been Kuwaiti. Port Are you sure? Yep. Oh, interesting. Like, from the country of Kuwait. No, Kuwaiti quady. Okay. Thank you. Well, we're going to be rating the 2023 Sazrac 18 year old Kentucky Straight Rye Whiskey. I know it's redundant. Well deserved. Five, six. Oh, my goodness. No surprises again.
All right, so let's go to our next whiskey, which is the Eagle Rare 17, uh, year old Kentucky Straight bourbon. It's 101 proof, 50.5% ABV. Um, at 19 years and three months old, this year's Eagle Rare 17 is the oldest release of the Spirit since its 23 year inclusion in the antique collection. So this is literally the oldest one they've ever released. It says 17 on the bottle, but that's just where the labeling you can. Always put in older. This, um, whiskey was distilled in the spring of 2004,
lord. And the barrels were aged in warehouses, uh, Cikm, M, and Q on the first and second floors with a 78% Evaporation loss. Um, again, bottled at 101 in tribute to the original Eagle Rare brand, which was launched in 1975. So this one also has definitely changed since it's been sitting here for a while. And on the nose, I'm still getting that dark chocolate, but the cherry is coming through a lot more now. See, I got the cherry initially, too, but I think
you didn't. But I'm getting more spice as well. Yeah. Dark chocolate, though, is very prominent. Getting brown sugar on the nose, I'm. Getting a little bit more of the sweetness from M, the cherry, than I did before and on the palate. Let's give it a try. M. MMM. M. This is one you have to sort of swirl around and chew on for a minute and then just sit back because this one sneaks up on you. It's not boom in your face when you first get it in your mouth, but once it's in there, you're
getting the caramel. Um, you're getting that chocolate. When we first opened it, it was spicy and sharp and had an edge to it. And that is just completely evened out now. So the balance has really come in. Um, on the finish when we first opened, it was much drier. That's backtracked for me a little bit. I'm still getting, um, some tobacco leaf. I'm still getting that Dutch, uh, cocoa finish, uh, to it, but just not quite as dry.
Um, yeah, this thing's mellowed out as well after the last hour, hour and a half of air. So what'd you think, Jess? I think that this whiskey is amazing and is begging for, uh, high end French pastry to pair it with. That's what I think. I thought you'd gone with a cigar. I thought you were a cigar guy. I am, but this is already, like, a really good cigar. So you'd have, like, a really good cigar with really good cigar. No contrast. Right, maury? Yeah, I thought their notes were spot. Really?
I was thinking about the chocolate, and, uh, I think, uh, they described it as a caramel drizzle chocolate sponge cake. And that's really what I got. It just was you're talking about from the distillery? Yeah. The notes on the palate, I don't agree with that. I still don't get exactly what I got in my, uh, chocolate. That dutch cocoa chocolate. I got a little bit of hint of orange. I definitely got some sponge cake. This was dessert in a glass. It was really
interesting. Um um, I've had Eagle Rare 17s that I've liked better. This was different, but this was delicious whiskey. This was really nice. Yeah, that's the thing that hit me with this one. Just like the last one. This one's different. I mean, I'm definitely getting a different palate from this than what I'm used to. Yeah, different than what I'm used to, but nonetheless, I wouldn't pour it out. This is completely different from used to, from Eagle Rare.
You're different than the rest of us, but we put up with you. That's fine. Diversity. Um, but don't tell the governor. Anyway, it's dark. Uh, chocolate and cherry. I got that. But mostly to me, there wasn't that much fruit. It's more about the dark chocolate, the Earthy notes, cigar box, spice tobacco. Um, it's like walking into a dusty tobacco barn. Yeah, that's what it is. I do not see that caramel cake chocolate cakey thing.
Whatever. No, I get a slight bit of caramel sweetness, but it's very muted. But it's still so good. And it's very different from previous releases. It's so sweet, but it's really that dark Dutch chocolate. Um, more so than sweetness, but it's definitely more sponge cake than orange peel. Yeah, you know, like the real high end, like, 80 cow chocolate. That's, like, really bitter, but you eat it anyway
because it's so damn good. That's what this is like. Not quite as stringent, but it's more like a dark, dark, bittersweet, chocolate cocoa kind of thing. And water, again, didn't change this. It's either way, with or without you're. Fine. Maybe you should add water to it, then, because at least it'll stretch it out and you'll have more to drink. That's true. Just throwing that one out. Good point. But the nose on it is still very pretty. See, a lot of people put all these great whiskeys on ice.
I find when you put them on ice, you mute the nose even more because you chill the whiskey. I would not put any of these on ice. They can't handle the truth. No, I wouldn't put ice anywhere near this. In fact, I keep grabbing them and holding them, trying to warming them up a little bit just to get them. Just so many people put them all these great whiskeys on ice. And I'd rather use cold water anytime if I have to bring it out. A little bit more. Yeah, I mean, you put
ice in it, it just shuts it down. But hey, it's your money. If you want to waste it, knock yourself out. Well, we're going to be rating the 2023 Eagle Rare. 17 year old. Not really 17 year old, 19 year old Kentucky, uh, straight bourbon, a well deserved guess what? Five sips. Oh my goodness. There's a surprise. Uh, yeah, it's so hard to figure this one out here. All right, maury, tell us about our next whiskey.
Thank you, Bob. Our next whiskey is the 2023 William LaRue Weller Kentucky straight bourbon. That's exactly the way I feel. 66.8% ABV are just favorite, uh, 3.6 proof. Yes, Justin. That's the way I feel. It never disappoints. It's a perennial favorite. This year's offering of this weeded classic was distilled in the spring guess it 2011. And its barrels were aged twelve years and six months. Uh, at Bottling in warehouses CIM, M and N on the second and third floors. With 66% of the
original whiskey lost to Evaporation. It's got a beautiful mahogany color on the nose. Yum. Drink it in notes of brown, dark brown sugar and vanilla bean palate. It's warm, it's rich, it's mouth coating. Stewed cherry brown sugar. Oh gosh. It's just unbelievable. I just want to smell. It just keeps viscosity. It just coats your mouth. It just keeps going and going and going. Uh, the finish is just dense and baking spice and maple syrup and just
goes on and on and on. This whiskey has got so many layers of flavor, it never disappoints. It's a shame it's gotten so difficult to find. We'll be back and talk about our ratings. Hey, we're back. And we were talking about the 2023 Whalery Weller Kentucky straight bourbon. What do you think, Jasmine? I have a smile on my face. It's going to last until next. It's like beautiful. Many awesome
desserts all in one. Without being too sweet on the nose, you get fresh vanilla bean brown sugar on the palate. It's like spicy and full. It's, uh, all the Thanksgiving pies distilled all at once on the finish. You get like, that really good, um, brownie dough before you bake it. All the little baking spices and the yeast and everything and a little bit of syrup. This is just heaven. Well, considering he grew know under a rock. He's just extrapolating what he thinks
Thanksgiving is like. That's pretty good. Okay. I'm going to be I've been to. Other people's Thanksgivings, Bob, so I've had good ones. Yeah, just not during your child. Yeah. No, correct. College. I went to a great one with chefs. It was awesome. It was burger chef. But it's fine. Yeah. You can't be picky. I kind of have to disagree with you guys on this. I know you are. Oh, God. Uh, cool. Go for it. What do you got? It's a weeder. And I just prefer high rye whiskeys. You're a heathen.
I prefer high rye whiskeys. Okay. Go home. And wheat as a second grain to me is boring. All right, take your glass. Pour it into mine here, because you. Don'T appreciate I'm going to add some cold water to this because it needs it 133 proof. Using the cap here because it hardly needs any water. I mean, it's okay. It's beautiful and vanilla and cake dough and cookies. Uh, this is so plain, Jane. Oh, my god. What's wrong with you? Everything else we've tasted today has been better.
I won't let you I'll take it off your hand. I got you. You guys all want this. This is my giver. You know, uh, there's a door over there. There's a plane with your name on it. It's on its way. I'm not saying it's North Korea. It has a rubber room. It's great. But of, uh, the ones we've tasted, it's the weakest one. No, I'm not a fan of weeders, Bob. You're a weeder fan, aren't you? I know you like you're a complete bastard. There you go. Fine. There's nothing wrong with a weeder. Listen,
there's nothing wrong with you. You're brown. We accept. You're so liberal and generous. I swear, you guys. Anyway, why would you judge a weeder by its composition? It's not about the composition. This is just kind of plain, Jane. The others had more layers of oh. No, this was a fantastic whiskey. Come on. You are missing the boat. Finish is really long. Okay. If I want to live with just vanilla, I'd marry a white girl. I did. I married two of m them, but whatever. Yeah. Oh, my god.
Uh, listen to them. It's vanilla. It's vanilla mhm. What are you going to marry when this one divorces you? Yeah. Okay. So kermit. Who's going to marry Kermit? It's not easy being green, man. Bob, it's got a beautiful sense. Until it's got a beautiful nose. We got more whiskeys to talk about. Just dark brown sugar. There's hardly any brown sugar. Oh, yeah, there's dark brown sugar. There, like, butter and dark brown sugar. It's vanilla fudge. Beautiful.
Lots of there's a reason why vanilla fudge is, uh, less popular than chocolate fudge. There's, like, Dr. Brown's root beer in here, too. Really? Uh, unlike you, sir, when I buy fudge, I don't see color. Um, this one is beautiful, warm, got a great mouthfeel. It's got a finish that goes on and on and on. I'm not disagreeing with any of that. He's out of his mind. It's five sips. Oh, my goodness. I don't disagree with the five sips rating. It's just not my jam.
Okay, let's move along. Harm, why don't you tell us about. The let me tell you about my jam. Kids, hold on. Ready? Okay. I am very aroused. Thank you. The 2023 George T. Stag, Kentucky. Straight bourbon. Uh, 67.5% ABV, 135 proof. Yeah. This is where we should be drinking. Distilled in the spring of 2008. The barrels were aged 15 years and three months. And warehouses ciklnmm on the first, 2nd, third, and fourth floors and fifth floors, with 68% of the original whiskey lost to
Evaporation. The color is a dark brown leather with red glints. 68, not 60. Oh, did I say 60? I thought 60 said 68. All right, anyway, 140 proof off the still. 125 in the still. And am I not talking to the thing here? Talking to the microphone. Dan I thought I was at the microphone, man. Like, I have to actually tell him. Number four charred barrels. This is waves and waves of cherry and cinnamon on the nose. M tons of leather, chocolate, um, cake frosting like buttercream. Um, there's some
sort of red fruit coming in. I'm not sure is that plum or cherry? Uh, and the finish is huge and long. I get, um, tobacco, earthiness, a little bit of dried orange peel and brown sugar, and it just keeps going and going. Maury, what'd you think? Well, as much as I hate to agree with you after your comments on the last whiskey, I think you nailed it on this one. Um, I think you nailed it. This one is exactly as you describe. Um, it's delicious. It's a
mouthful. It's different. I think the striking thing for me is it's different than any other George T. Stag I've had in recent years. But nonetheless, it's amazing. It's delicious. It's got a different kind of finesse. It's not quite the same brick to the teeth that you might expect as Bob would describe perennially. It's always like a cherry brick to the teeth. Usually it's a little more finesseful this year, but nonetheless, uh, it's different, but it's wonderful.
Justin this was Grandma's house Twinkies and the original aluminum foil package. Marlboro reds, all the great stuff at her house. Oh, my God. The finish just goes on forever, much like hanging out of Grandma's house. It was great. He had a broken childhood. Yeah. I actually like the Twinkie note that cake is there. Oh, the old one with the aluminum foil. Not what they make now. And I put some cold water in just now to see if I could bring some of that more
fruit out. I think it's like black cherry. Hold on. Black cherry cola. Let me just have a smell. Cherry cola. Oh, this is Mchell M. Finally another video. What was that? Wrong one. Bob can't see straight with the high proof he's written the wrong buttons. Lord have mercy. Uh, it's so good. Thank God it's back this year. That's all I can say. Last year, the barrels just didn't meet their standard and they took a very brave stance and said, we will not. Release that last year or two years ago.
We will not release an average product. Yeah, it was last year. Seems like two years ago. It all blurs together. It's all blurred together. If you know what, put it in our Facebook comments. There you go. But so well put together, so well balanced. And again, just leather, chocolate, dark, dark cherries, tobacco leaf. A little bit dry on the palate. It's got just this earthy finish to it. And it just goes on and on and on. It's absolutely beautiful. Um, very worthy of the Stag name. Um, please
surprise us. Please send more. Please. Sir, uh, can I have some more? Oh, my. Suspense is killing me. So this takes us to our last whiskey, which we're going to have. Justin, tell us about that one. Okay. Nice hearing from you, Justin. Thank you very much. Harmi, what do you have to say about the whiskey? Let Justin speak. Okay, we're going to talk. You can't screw this one up. King of Kentucky. 62.9% alcohol by volume or 125.8 proof. They made 3800 bottles of
this. And the original King of Kentucky brand was established in 1881 as a Kentucky straight bourbon whiskey. Brown Foreman acquired the brand in 1936 from selected Kentucky distillers and by 1940 converted it to a blended whiskey until it was discontinued in 1968. In 2018, brown Foreman wisely Verlot revived the label.
King of Kentucky is an annual release of single barrel inventory featuring, uh, a barrel strength, minimally filtered proof presentation with each release and every barrel being unique. This 6th annual release, bless You Maury is made from a batch of 51 barrels that were distilled on July 19, 2007, aged 16 years in warehouse G. So I don't get what they're talking about. They say it's a single barrel, but it's batch of 51 barrels. What does that mean? Are they leasing 51 single barrels?
No, uh, it's a one. That's it batch of 51 barrels? Yeah, it's a small batch. So the color is dark, like a new penny on the nose. I got dark graham cracker, vanilla. I got some little bits of potpourri cognac and, uh, grilled coconut on the palate. Dark chocolate mocha, um, some strong black tea and leather, uh, chair on the finish. It's long, complex. If you don't like this, you don't like bourbon. It's not a defect of your soul, per se, but close. Yeah, some people just don't like well.
Then just you don't like bourbon. This is the test. Just pour this. Uh, you drink it, you don't like it. Okay. You don't like bourbon, I won't pour you anything. Else, right? Yeah. What did you think, maury? I wouldn't waste this on somebody as a test. They'd have to try a couple other things first. Yeah, you have to deserve this first. I'll pour my best first for a new person just to try to blow their mind, and that they never, ever forget coming over to my house. Interesting.
Different philosophy. Well, this is a fantastic whiskey. Um, how they've done it six years running, I don't know, but they've managed to find 51 of the most amazing barrels every year. Uh, it just never disappoints. The only sad part about this whiskey is it's beyond a unicorn. It's a unicorn wrapped internet, right? It's like a unicorn's restaurants. No, it's very hard. It's Kentucky only, isn't it? No, I find it mostly Kentucky, some Indiana. But it's also when it first started.
Coming out, it was Kentucky only, wasn't it? No, the very first year, I find this at four or five different places in Kentucky. I found it in Vegas at a. Steak only on premise. No. You guys don't have anything left in your glasses. I'm getting a weird note coming out. There's a small release in Florida. It's a fantastic whiskey. It's very hard to come by. It's amazing. It's delicious. The one we're drinking from is barrel 22.
It's just got so much going on in the glass, you could smell it all day. So it is single barrels. 51 single barrels individually rolled. Correct. And it's just unbelievable. So I'm getting a weird mustard seed note at first. I got brush your teeth after lunch. Dude, I did meet today. This is mounds. Coconut let's let you that okay. Brush your teeth after dinner last night, candied coconut closing. Had a hot dog mess. Chocolate. But right here, put my nose
a little bit further away and higher up. It's like weird mustard seed note coming out. It's kind of cool, but see have you got it? It's so beautiful. Floral and chocolate. I don't get the mustard, but it's definitely got a lot of complexity going on. Again, an amazing whiskey. Okay. Not for the faint of heart. If you see it on a menu and you can if you can afford it. Afford it? Yeah. If you're in a very high end place in Vegas or Kentucky or someplace where they have this
absolutely. Invest in a pour. Oh, yeah. Honestly, it doesn't matter what year. I mean, we're drinking the 20 barrel. We're drinking the 23. Um, all of them. All of them, all the barrels, whatever. Found a steakhouse in Vegas. They poured this for 50 a pour. Needless to say, they didn't have any more when we were done. That's why. They were advertising 50 a pour, because no, I bought six pores. Yeah. Really? I drained the bottle with my date.
50 a pour is like, less than half what this usually goes for. I know. I wasn't going to leave any in the restaurant. You are such a glutton. Yes. Wow. Every year, this one's always so good. And every year they do the same thing. It's like they pick a batch of barrels that are all on distilled on the same day. Yeah. They literally go in and go, what was on that day? Brown Foreman's got, like, more than half of the bourbon in the country, at least to choose from.
Well, they own Jack Daniels, don't they? Got a but this one this one every year, we look forward to this one. Every year. When I open that cardboard box and I see the little wooden box inside, I squeal like a six year old girl and my secretary goes, oh, you got the one. You got one of the ones you like. Yeah, it, um never gets old seeing that box. It doesn't. Every time I see it, I'm like, oh, thank you, thank you, thank you for sending this one, because it is fantastic. It's just so lovely.
The only bad thing is we don't have a quart of it. Yeah. I'm not complaining, but they could send us bigger samples. I'm just saying. Yeah, they could send a five gallon bucket. Hint, hint. Do you want to give that one a rating? Uh, these go to eleven. There you go. Uh, I only have one to five to pick from, so it's like, I love the fall. I love the fall. The fall is always season to be merry right here. Forget about Christmas.
Always the best time of the year. And as usual, I would normally, uh, know it's all the time we have for the day. And I'd like to thank my co host. But no, we should thank you, Bob. We should thank you. Line up and kiss my ring, dear. About all that. Don't thank me. I didn't make it. Thank the kind folks who sent it to us, who think enough of the show and think enough of our opinion. So thank you, Justin, for joining us today. Thank you. Wow. Thank you, maury.
Thank you, Bob. Another great day in the basement. And thank you, Harm. Um, Bob, what can I say, but you're the best. This day does not stink. You are the best. And they sent us the best stuff today. We didn't get Harmy to spitbucket. We messed up. There's no spitbucket here. What's going on? No, honestly, if there was a spit bucket, justin would be in there siphoning it out right now, pouring it in his glass. It already drank. The nose bucket show. Yeah. Well, the samples are so small.
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This has been a one tan hand production of Sip, Suds and Smokes, a program devoted to the appreciation of some of the finer slices of life from the Dude in the Basement studios. Your host, the Good Old Boys, will see you all next time. Let.