Oh, friends, and welcome back to another episode of the Bourbon Road podcast. I'm your host, Jim Shannon, and I'm your host, Todd Ritter. We've got a great show for you today. So grab your favorite po and join us. Hey roadies, it's Diane Strong with Bourbon on the Banks Festival. We've got another amazing event coming your way this year. Be sure to join us at the Half and I'll tell you a little bit more about the event taking place October 4th, 2025.
Todd and I are proud to have Smokey's Lifestyle Cigars as sponsor of this episode and as the official cigar of the Bourbon Road podcast. Our hosts and listeners alike enjoy the ultimate experience of premium cigars. Smokey's lifestyle cigars are where flavor and craftsmanship meet. Find out more during the halftime break and at Smokey's Lifestyle Cigar.com. The surgeon general warns that cigar smoking can cause lung cancer and heart disease and is not a safe alternative to cigarettes.
The Hill House Bed and Breakfast, located in Loretto, Kentucky is ready to be your bourbon country home away from home. Located less than 3 miles from Maker's Mark, the Hill House is convenient to Bardstown and the rest of the Bourbon Trail. The next time you visit bourbon country choose comfort and convenience. Choose the Hill House bed and breakfast. Listen in at the break for more details or visit their website at the Hillhouse Kentucky.com.
Alright, listeners and longtime roadies, welcome back to another episode of the Bourbon Road. Todd and I are hanging out today. We are in the Bourbon Road Bar in Simpsonville, Kentucky. We've been, uh, spending a lot of time in Frankfurt lately. Yeah, it's good to be back here. Good to be back, no doubt. Uh, we've got a number of samples we're gonna go through tonight.
Todd's put together a lineup and, uh, we're just gonna kinda take it easy tonight and Review what we got, uh, 4 whiskeys, 44 whiskeys we're gonna have tonight, and I guess we got 2 bourbons in the first half and 2 rides in the second half, and there's 1 big kicker at the end, a very big kicker. That's that's a giant mule there. I don't think we've ever had a whiskey. At that level on the show before.
Not to spoil, but I know that that will be the highest proof thing I've ever tried unless there was some sort of, you know, some of the moonshine that may have getting passed around here in Kentucky that you've tried, but normally moonshine is down around 100 proof. I mean it just always is it's always in that 100 to 110 range. Well, I'm talking those like like seriously in the mason jars and you know like like an X on it you know I've had a few of those, you know, so.
All right, but yeah, so we're gonna, we're gonna kick back here today. We're gonna have a good time. We've got a lot coming up. We've had, uh, it's nice to get a chance to sort of regroup and just have you and I sit down with a couple of pores, um, but we've got a lot of barrel picks were going on. Yes, uh, you've got a lot of, got a lot of, uh, roadies coming into town. Roadie's, uh, yeah, Friends, uh, the debut of the Frankfurt documentary is coming up. Uh, it's there's a lot going on.
It's a busy time of year, but lots of fun and uh this is gonna be a great show though. We're gonna have a good time and uh I haven't had. Uh, 3 of these 4, so. I am over 4, so yeah, yeah, yeah, I've not tried any of these 4, but I'm very excited. So all right, well, let's get started. Alright, our first one is from our friends and podcast enemies. I'm just kidding. Uh, the Pursuit United guys, this is Kenny Coleman and Ryan Cecil. This is their Melwood bottled and bond bourbon.
This came in a 375 mL. Only runs 29.99 and it's 100 proof, obviously being a bottle and a bun. So the cool thing with this is, you know, Kenny did some digging when they moved in their uh spot where their Kind of their place where you do the barrel picks and their gift shop is and all that stuff. Um, you did some deep diving and right in that area was where the Melwood distillery resided back in the, you know, late 1800s.
So they, with that, they decided to come out with these kind of special pints, pint bottles, and it's a really unique package. I think it's got like the, you know, the faux t strip on it and it just kind of looks like, you know, something you might have seen. Way, way back when.
But uh yeah, they're honoring George W. Swearingen, which any Deadwood fans, I believe, uh, yeah, Swearingen yeah obviously I think one was uh, well, he was probably a real person too, but yeah, I thought that was kind of interesting.
Uh, who opened that distillery in 1865 and they just wanted to To kind of honor that with a Bald and Bond signifying a commitment to exceptional quality and authenticity set forth by Rudolph Balki, the president of the Millwood distillery, who was a key figure also, you know, along with EH Taylor in the Baldwin Bond Act in 1897. So cool stuff, yeah, I mean the the Mel Melwood Avenue, which is a fairly well-known street in in Louisville.
Uh, if you've ever been into a town that has this road that runs down between Uh, big red brick manufacturing buildings for like a mile on both sides. You've been down like an old town like that that has the big manufacturing. Oh yeah, I think Owensboro, Kentucky is like that distillery area and some other stuff around there. It's really so none of those buildings exist anymore, but that was Melwood Avenue. Melwood Avenue was the Millwood distillery. It was huge.
Uh, there's some details on that Brian Harra's book, but, um, pretty, pretty cool, big, big place. They made a lot of whiskey there. So yeah, 2999, 100 proof and uh they source from uh different Kentucky distilleries. This is obviously a Kentucky distillery.
Um, I'm not sure if they're under an NDA for this one, you know, sometimes they are, sometimes they are, they are very forthcoming on most of their stuff, so they will, they will tell you, but they can they'll let you know that's true and uh you know we're talking about the old spot, they are getting ready to open something down on Whiskey Row and I wanna say probably at the end of June is about when that's gonna open up, they're gonna have a podcast studio and There's a few Airbnbs there,
I know some of our roadies actually do some uh Some uh ambassadoring for them. They kinda gra uh boots to the uh boots to the ground kind of ambassadors, so they send bottles to people out there and they have those people like do tastings and things, so cheers to them. Let's check this out, right. Oh, I love it. Get some nice apple notes. It does, it does have a nice apple pie, apple pie, but a little bit on the like Jolly Rancher apple side too. A little bit of that bubble gum note.
It's just a hint of floral thing going on there too it's fruity and floral and it's got a really nice, it almost, it almost initial impression is almost like a brandy note a little bit but but not not like red apple, right? This is more of a Like a head of a jolly Rancher or a green apple. Alright, let's taste it. Cheers. Well, it's really sweet on the palette. Oh yeah, nice and balanced, everywhere all at once. Nice impression.
So I came off of warming up on a Uh, but maybe not a wise thing to do. I warmed up on like a 115 proof ride before the show. That's OK, you'll manage. I'll manage. This is really good. So is this, is this Ryan's baby more than it is? I think Ryan does a lot of the blending and picking and things like that. I mean, I'm sure Kenny will tell us, uh, we're actually hoping to get up with them uh in August and uh chat with them. I think we are doing a bourbon on the banks.
Barrel pick through them soon, so that should be a lot of fun. This is a really good whiskey. I like it. I do too. I think that apple kind of like an apple pie thing I was talking about kind of carries over, there's a nice burst of like. Vanilla butter cream frosting type thing. Yeah, it has a nice, um nice gentle hug associated with it. Um, it drinks right at its proof, I think, maybe a little light, but you think it's a little light, see, I get a little spice in the, you know.
But it sits there really nicely. Has a nice finish. does. A little bit of vote coming out at the end. Yeah, I would say uh. The Melwood is uh. It's a nice well-balanced bourbon. It has, uh, like you mentioned, it's got the apple notes, a little bit of bubble gum up front. This was on the nose, but it also the apple came across on the palette as well. Some caramel going on, yeah.
It does have a little bit of a floral aspect to it, um, a little bit of a bite, uh, I think that's what you're talking about, just, just on the backside, spicy, just, just a little. But that's that's $29 for a $375 that puts it at about $60 750 dollars. Yeah, I think that's, that's one these guys, their price points are. are really nice and I recommend if you see their. The Pursuit United is out there to give those a world, those are. Really all the blends that Ryan puts together.
Now this is available on the shelf and in the gift shop. I forgot to kind of look at that part, but I know you can get it at the gift shop and I want to say. I feel like you might be able to get it through, you know, they're good friends with Blake Riber there at Sillbox, of course, so there may be some of those bottles available. I'm not sure of the distro on this, but. Oh, it sits real nice at the end. I think this would be great with a cigar. We'll have to check with Ray Clauseson.
He's one of the ambassadors for, for these guys. He's probably had a cigar with it already. It's actually getting a little sweeter for me as I keep sipping, that's just nice. It is sweet, it is a sweet bourbon. Um, I got that initial impression as well. But I'm really loving the finish on this, of the hugs settling in. It's, it's got a nice finish. That's a really good bottle to mine, yeah. I'd say they uh they did very well with this. I'd agree. It's a good start to the day.
I think so, absolutely. And uh we're moving on to another one, but uh any interesting news you've run across lately? So a few things, um, the President's Choice, which is put out by Old Forester, um, the newest rendition of that will be coming out soon, um, it's one of those that's gonna be hard to find, you know, that's that's the way of the world these days, uh, but they are also for the first time putting out a president's choice rye, which should be interesting. So some of those sweet.
Old Forester rise, you know, that, yeah, so that's pretty exciting. I've only had like a pour of one of those. I feel like it's one of those you just don't see very often. I know it's gonna be they're having like a special event there at Old Forester that's gonna have like a three course meal and you can buy a bottle of each and do a deep dive into the price or anything like that, but now Old Forrester's ye mash bill is like a 65%. Um, right, is it?
I thought it was OK. 65 and then 35 or something like 6535 or 65, 30 and 5 or whatever it is, but yeah. Um, I, I do know that it's Kentucky ye, but it's, uh, it sits closer in the 60% range, I think. But that's one of the things I've seen lately that, uh, is coming out and then we got some news from our good friends at Wyoming Whiskey.
They are getting ready to launch the Buffalo Bill Cody, you know, they're, they're, uh, they love to give shout outs to their national parks there and uh to some like, you know, some of those wild west, uh, heroes and people of lore, and it is a six year old bourbon. And it's composed of 26 barrels, all, uh, all the grains are from Wyoming as well, and it's going to be, I think I saw 97% proof with a retail price of about 7999. OK cool.
We may be getting a sample of that she was gonna check on that. We never turned down a sample and I always ask, so hopefully we'll give that a whirl and give the folks a little better impression. I know that's one of those it seems like it's just kinda in Wyoming, so any of the roadies out there in the Wyoming area, you know, try it and let us know how it is on page. They're not the first ones to come out with like a. Uh, a a whiskey or a bourbon named after, uh, Wild Bill.
I think Mississippi River Distilling came out with Cody Road, Cody Road, because I think Buffalo Bill or Bill Cody or whatever his name was, um, uh, he was from, uh, LeClaire, Iowa, which is where the pickers are at, you know, those guys. That's funny, interesting, yeah. But I guess uh a lot that you know, whole west wild west northern wild west scene out there, right? Yeah, I didn't know he was uh like he started kind of like as a pony express rider that's kind of where he.
I guess got into the west and then progressed to becoming the legend he is today. So, so far we've tied in Square Engine and Buffalo Bill Cody. Well, I would, I would say our history is likely flawed, so we're probably gonna hear from roadies on this. Come on guys. So that's another one to keep your eye out on, and I'll pop in a few more here as we alright sounds good. Well, we have another whiskey that we're gonna sort of drift into now. And this one is also from our friends at Pursue.
So this is Derby Town, this is their seven-year barrelproof Kentucky bourbon. It is a revival of a brand once owned by General Distillers Corp, which took over Millwood Distilling after Prohibition. So they were one of those groups that kinda.
After prohibition, it seems like all these big groups just started like buying them all up and probably Because a lot of the people that owned the distilleries after prohibition had basically lost everything in the process, yeah, so you had these big corporations coming in and just let's all this equipment, all the equipment, maybe use it, maybe use just the Rickhouses, you know, you got national distillers coming out, I think kind of came in the market there, but um. So this one's 122.8 proof.
And uh yeah, 4999. For a 375 mL bottle. OK, all right. And I believe this one might be rabbit hole. I think I wanna, you know, OK, now, you know, so this, these, if these are only gonna be in 375, they kind of remind me of like the uh The Baron series out of uh wild turkey like the WB Sale and yes, the pints pints which they're typically you can find them on the shelves but they're limited. You definitely get them in the in the uh bottle shop.
There's actually a new uh WB Sale, they just re-released it. The bottle's a little different, it's less rounded. And I actually got to try that and wow, I've always been a huge fan. I think my sapple was the best of the three, but the new sapple might even be. Better than the 1st 10 wow, that would be something else because the original release of the Apple was just out of this world. All right, so this is the uh Derby town, Derby town, 22 again, kind of a classy old look, looks really neat.
OK, this is a little darker on the nose, definitely more concentrated. I think you like to say fruit cake? Oh yeah. Or spice cake, a little bit of molasses, like molasses spice cake, right? Cause it is dark. Yeah, it's got a nice color to it. Nice nose, a little bit of uh spice to it. Cheers. Cheers. Oh, very warm and buttery. Oh, that's really nice, that is nice. It has a lot more oak on it than the last 13 years will do that to you, I guess. It's a really good whiskey.
This came out of rabbit hole, huh? I think, you think I'm not sure. You think you know what the first one was too first one may be Bardstown, you know, I know they sourced from there and they will tell you that, so. You kind of had a bargetowny vibe, maybe. Well, it's, it's fun to try and guess. You don't know if you're right or not, but it's always fun to try. I really like this too, Ryan and Kenny, you guys are killing it. These are two great little bottles, yes.
Now, I do know this is probably like, I didn't really look too close at the bottle, but I feel like this is probably may have a batch one or something or some sort of batch code on it. So I, I think from what I read. Future releases will be the Proofs will vary, I guess, kind of thing. Oy, buttery, silky. Very warming. Um, Yeah, it's like drinking like the elixir of life, it's so good. This is really good. The elixir of life, wow. Can live to 100 just drinking this, is that what you're saying?
Yeah, I think, I think a glass of this every evening and you're set. This is good. This is really good stuff. Well, I'm not gonna go overboard on it, but I mean it, it is a uh It's a quality, uh, 7 year old bourbon. Yeah, 7 year old bourbon, 122 prof, it's got great flavor. Both of these have been well balanced, and the texture on this one just takes it over the top for me. Yes. And again, that finish, it's It's not dispersing, it just sits there. Well done guys, well done.
Yeah, I've had a whiskey. That this reminds me of, but I, I can't put my finger on it. I've had something with this. Kind of the same notes going on the same notes, the same texture, the same, but I just can't, I can't quite put my finger on it. It may have been a 15 star. I might have been giving away clothes. Really good stuff.
There's a there's a lot of like uh we'll be honest, it'll probably be edited a little bit, but there's we're having some nice like quiet times where we're just kind of sitting here enjoying it. Yeah, I normally try to take those out because people don't want to sit sit in silence? Where did they go? something wrong? My uh radio sometimes it just happens you get kind of silent and enjoy the moment and that's one of these times.
Yeah, in fact, sometimes when I'm editing, I kind of wonder if I take out too much if it if it won't sound funny because I try to not give people too much silence because it just You kind of wonder if your phone stopped or if, you know, I don't know, I think anything over 5 seconds people are like, wait, what happened? Maybe I don't know, we'll have to ask the folks, but good start, good start. So when is, when is the pick there at the pursuit? I believe it's scheduled for August 6th. OK, yeah.
So there's just a reminder to our listeners, we're, um, Todd and I have been involved with uh With the Frankfurt Bourbon Society and with uh Bourbon on the banks to do a series of about 10 picks, I guess 10 picks this year 10 picks, I believe, and yeah, and these, these bottles that these barrels that we're assisting on and helping helping to pick, uh, will be available at Bourbon on the Banks.
From the distilleries themselves, right, it'll be at those tables if I'm I'm sure if they don't have that particular license, they usually get uh capital sellers to Which is one of our local stores, they kind of set up their own rather large area of just all kinds of bourbons that they're selling so these are all well not all, there's one Georgia, right? Uh, yes, Short barrel out of Georgia. I think they'll probably be mailing some samples to AMSI of some sort.
Yeah. Well anyway, so we'll, we'll, I don't know, we'll be going, you're definitely going to the pursuit. Yes, we are, yes. Uh, and actually you are getting ready to go to an Angel zombie pick, which should be really interesting, and one of our roadies, one of our very lucky roadies, we drew a name, so Gary, uh, Raybourne, right? Yeah. So I have not been, uh, I have not reached out to him yet, but hopefully Amy has, and I believe he was in the process. OK, good deal.
So, uh, we look forward to hanging out with him on, uh. What will be this upcoming Friday at Angel's Envy in downtown Louisville. It's gonna be fun and keep following the roadies' page because I, I believe Amsey said we're, we'll do a couple more. We'll give away a couple of other picks, um. Who knows, maybe the pursuit one might be one, who knows, there's a lot. A lot of picks left, so it should be fun. All right, well, I am pleasantly surprised with both of these.
If you can't tell which one's kind of I'm leaning towards, I just, I have kind of leaning towards this one. But I think like it's usually a spoiler of the proof, right? I mean, when you go with 100 to 122, it's kind of unfair jumping a little unfair. Yes, it's like, it's like two guys get in a ring to box, one of them weighs 100 pounds, the other one weighs 225. Who are you gonna bet on? Well, David did beat Goliath, that's true, that's true, but I don't know, Goliath's pretty good this time.
That's some good whiskey. Yeah, these guys have some mad skills. They definitely do. Now not only do they have a great podcast and a great following and and they've served the industry for many, many years, but, uh, they make some really, really good whiskeys. Yeah, they do a fantastic job and it's a really it's a really fun experience to go there and do that bottle of your own type thing. Uh there was a when they kind of first opened we took.
Uh, I guess there's about 13 or 14 of us in the bourbon Society. We went up there and did that and had a great time. Well, I haven't been to their facility yet. I'm, I'm looking forward to it one of these days, maybe on the pick, maybe not. I don't know. I, I can't. I'm gonna go do two of them in western Kentucky too, so I don't know if I can do many more. I'm, I'm kinda at my limit, I think. It's a marathon, it is a marathon. Well, Todd, I, I think I want to sip on this going into the half.
I do too. All right, well, folks, you stick around. We've got the two more great whiskeys coming up in the second half. Uh, we'll, we'll kind of wrap up our thoughts on these when we get back and, uh, then we'll venture into these next two and Todd's got some more tidbits of news for us as well. So stick around, we will be right back. Hey roadies, it's Diane Strong with Bourbon on the Banks Festival again.
We have another amazing event this year, but we want you to come early because we've got a lot of events leading up to the festival. Starting on Thursday, we've got another mixology with master mixologist Heather W Wibbles on the Bourbon Bell and OH Ingram. Leading into Friday we have got Peggy No Stevens. She's back with another bourbon pairing and a lesson called The Stave is the rage. It's gonna be amazing. Limestone Heritage distilling is gonna be bringing in 3 single barrels.
You're gonna learn a lot. We've got the VIP coming back and this year we are celebrating women in bourbon. This. year, Bourbon on the Banks Festival promises to be even better than ever. We've already got more than 70 distilleries that are going to be there. More than anything, I need to encourage you to get your tickets as soon as possible. They're selling fast. Some of them are already sold out. If you want to come this year, please get your tickets.
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We just went through a couple of great expressions from the Pursuit United guys. This is their Kind of historic pints if you will, uh, we had the Millwood bottle and bond, it's a 4 year old hunterproof, 2999. And that was followed up by the Derby town, which is a 7 year old 122.8 proof and yeah just great great start to the yeah this review show.
So but now we are going, we're gonna step over into the dark side, some might say if you're a Star Wars fan, this is the wry side which I know it's it's one of my favorites. I like to play on the dark side. You're on the dark side. You're like a Darth Vader. So, without further ado, this is the 15 Stars reserve fine aged rye. Our good friends, Ricky and Rick Johnson sent us this bottle.
It is a blend of Kentucky, Tennessee, and Indiana rise, aged 1413, 9, and 8, so that makes it a, you know, you do your bourbon math you go to that lowest number and makes it an 8 year basically. And it is 95% proof and MSRP on this is a little jump, so 13999. OK, so they have uh they have another ride which is called their first West, which is kind of their That's their flagship ride, right?
I mean, that's kind of the one I believe so, yeah, and solid solid solid I wanna say didn't run in them a little over 100 proof, like 105ish yeah I think so, without without going over there and getting in your shelves, yeah, and this is uh. I'm getting like lemon bar and mint. Yeah, this is a, uh, it's it's not first west. You could, I mean, it's not the first West right there's like a different little older leather type thing. Yeah, and it doesn't come across like super like.
High right mash bill to me. But, but 3 different states and 3 different states, but the higher they get in age, the more rice sort of drift away from that. They would go into more of the candy notes and everything, so. Has a great nose. It does have a great nose. There's a little bit of that bubble gum too, yeah, just a little bit of minty bubble gum, yeah. has this nice innate sweetness to it. Um, it's not overpowering, it's not exactly candylike, but it's um.
It definitely has left like the youthful rice stage. This is definitely into the more mature rye stage. Little chocolate, a little chocolate on there? Yeah, a little bit. Right, we taste it same. Cheers, cheers. Oh yeah, oh yeah. There's that, there's a little bit of a candy note to it, a little sweeter.
Kind of reminds me a little bit of like a Luden's remember the Luden's cough drops like cherry really doesn't have a big cherry note on it, but it has like the honey, like the like the more of the honey cough drop honey, yeah, and I'm also getting like, like a peachy apricot thing going on too, which is really nice and unexpected. So this is sits right at 95 proof you exactly, yes, OK. This is a, this is a well-proofed whiskey.
I think it, it really drinks nicely at this, at this, uh, at this proof. Um, you can tell that it has Um, you know, a combination of more mature rise to it. Yes, still very viscuous, though I'm sure they had, they, I feel like maybe they didn't prove it down too much though. I don't know, just get that vibe, it's just so viscous.
Yeah, you could definitely nail this as a rye, but it's not like this, uh, it's not like the, it's not like Kentucky owl kind of rye, it's this is a little bit more uh more of a caramel. A fendish is like just like mint and oak though it does, yeah, mint and oak, maybe a little leather. That's really good. We are lucky fellas. I know these are great whiskeys. I mean, I'm not gonna lie, I grab the, you know, I like to support the pursuit guys. I grab those on my own, but.
Rick and Ricky, uh, we love you. Thank you. Yeah, they, they are really good about making sure they get their whiskeys in the hands of people. I mean, they're, they're not ashamed to have everybody try their whiskey and report on it. So, and they shouldn't be because they have great stuff. Yeah, and then, you know. They're a little pricey, not gonna lie, but I think they're one of those like hidden gems that, you know, you don't see them much, you know, I have friends in the YouTube.
Arena, if you will, and you don't hear much about these guys and I'm like, you guys need to like send some samples to like these people and these people, but they kinda keep it. Yeah, I mean, they're not, they have a reasonable distribution, but it's kind of it's tight, right? But I just don't think they're getting their due because they put out some great products. Yeah, they do. They do. Well, I mean, I think we should send a few bottles to our friends.
Let them, let them, let them try them out on air, right, right, uh, I've actually. In plans to uh do that with my hello Again whiskey friends. I was gonna send them some hidden gems that they've never tried or talked about, so. And then, of course, some of our roadies will probably get some samples of these. Because we do like to be hooking up with Scott and Jason here shortly. Yes, they're coming in.
This week, um, to do a they're doing a buffalo Trace pick and when I say buffalo Trace pick that is what they're picking an actual buffalo Trace, so I think they have about 7, you know, kind of let some patreons that are in that area to kind of know and sometimes there's great interest they'll kind of draw names out of a hat, but um. So yes, I'm supposed to meet them.
Gonna have a little dinner and hopefully a little pours after we're gonna go to the um Ashbrook Hotel, which used to be EH Taylor's um home back back in the day, so. You can't, you can't not touch bourbon when you come to Frankfurt. It's everywhere you look. It's just bourbon. It just rolls. Through the gutters. All right, well, tell us what else is going on in the world of whiskey here. You've got some more news for us, don't you, Todd? I do indeed.
So our very good friends from Lost Lantern, they are coming out with their summer collection estate distilleries. And by that, It it's gonna feature distilleries that everything's, you know, grown. In-house, so. Some of those options will be a ray ranch Nevada straight bourbon. You know, it's funny, I thought you were gonna say Fray I was gonna say that that was definitely gonna be one.
they also have a Fray ranch Nevada straight rye, Corbin Cash California straight rye, which Jason then just uh did a pick with those guys and if you see their rye out there like a 6 or 7 year old pick, do yourself a favor, try to grab a pour of it or grab it because they are sneaky good. They've just kind of like come out of nowhere. A far north, which is Minnesota straight rye. A Fray ranch Nevada Strait wheat whiskey.
And then Whiskey Acres, which you and I uh got kind of surprised when we had a Whiskey Acres bottled and bond, I think with uh blind barrels recently, so that's an Illinois straight bourbon good stuff and hopefully you will be getting some samples of those and you know. Those are gonna be, I think.
If I recall correctly, anywhere from some single barrels to kind of a blend of some barrels, so like anywhere from probably 150 bottles available to 400, 500 bottles um available through Seal box and actually straight from Lost Lir, but we love those guys, uh. I really enjoyed talking to them, the uh, you were, I think you were on vacation or something like that but uh it was a great time and I've become a big fan of what they're doing. I love craft stuff, so I'd love that they.
They're just shine a light on, you know, some of the lesser knowns and stuff, yeah, no doubt about it. Wow, so, uh, loving, loving that ride we just had, really good, um, but I'm out. I finished it off. I was gonna say when I got this bottle, I was like. I might take a couple of ounces home with me, but that one needs to be on your shelf, I think. Are you gonna leave it with me? Oh, thank you, Todd. That's so sweet.
Well that way it's there to be like when we, you know, yeah, when you came in today, I was drinking a rye from uh Mattingly. So one other thing, our good friend Mccaulay Minton, his uh I actually got to go our bourbon society got to go up there for a private. Kind of like walk into their new place which oddly enough is at was at the RD1 distillery or their like their previous location and we got to kind of check it out and um. Got to sample some really unique stuff.
I walked away with two more bottles that I probably don't need, but they were so good uh one was like a 13 year double oaked rye. I know that just made your ears perk up, um, and so. I think they are getting ready, end of June, June 28th, they're going to have a kind of a ribbon cutting grand opening and We've been invited, but since I kind of got to go a little earlier, I, I may skip out in, but we'll see you've got a lot in your place.
There's a lot of stuff going on right now, but, but you know, it's really interesting you were telling me that he's, he's really built an A team out there. He's bringing in some. Some big hitters. Yes, Sarah Algram is out there, uh, from she was formerly with the uh Suburban Night YouTube channel.
um, she actually poured our tastings for all of us and you know, kind of talked to us about, you know, talked us through things and it was a. That's a, it's a really neat place, you know, McCauley is an interesting guy by all means, and he has turned that into a very interesting place. And funny enough, I actually, we actually walked in there before they were done with the building because they were kind of working and I funny enough, I knew the contractor. He used to be a um.
A worked for one of the distributors as and like did like wine tastings and like was big on the wine so I was like, Seth, what are you doing here? He's like, I'm a contractor too. I'm like, well, small world, but it's it's a cool place and I mean that I feel like Lexington, you know. Is getting ready to blow up bourbon wins, you know, I mean, you know, Frankfurt's doing well, tourism is big. I, I think it's just gonna, it's gonna bring a lot to Lexington.
Whiskey as a whole is a broad category is is is is hitting a little bit of a rough time right now, but bourbon tourism is on fire. Yes, so we're still good. So yes, you know, roadies, if you don't want to go to Louisville, don't want to stop in Frankfurt, you know, I think. With RD one open that new place, it's gorgeous. Look into Lexing too. I mean, we were just over at the Pepper, so yeah, over at Pepper, it's really neat. You got Barrel House there.
And in Midway, which is right in between Frankfurt and Lexington, you have um the bluegrass ceiling, they they do some really neat stuff and they have a, it's kind of a farm. Kind of distillery, it's uh Elkwood Farms is I think what they call it, so. Yeah, there's, it's just kind of like growing like it's kind of expanding out, which is kind of neat, but yes, um, keep coming to Kentucky. There's always something new and some really neat stuff. Well, cheers, Todd, thank you for that report.
Yeah, all right, so we're gonna need that we need that news. So now we're moving on to the big gun. We talked about this at the beginning of the show. This is uh. This is a whiskey that uh we, we had this distillery on uh a few weeks back, uh, but this particular bottle didn't make it on.
So we, uh, we were out in Colorado, uh, we went to Law's Whiskey House and we had Alan Laws on and we did a big tour and tasted through all the whiskeys and had a really great time, put out a great article on the on the internet. If you want to go check it out on the website.
Um, but after the interview was over and after we had taken all our pictures and done all the things that you do, uh, Alan and I got to spend probably a good 45 minutes to an hour together just talking about The industry and what's going on, and we did that by walking around his Rick house. And he had his maturation manager out there and we were just we were just tapping barrels, we were just having a good time and uh he said, oh, this one here, you gotta try this one. I said, what is it?
He said, well, this is uh this is 425 X. He said, uh, this is Arie was the X really big? And uh you know, they've got some really neat barrels out there. They, they, they, you know, they, they've got a lot of like artwork on them and stuff, yeah, I mean it's pretty fun. It's a fun place, but anyway, uh, this particular barrel has is already allocated to a store. Um, but it was such an impressive barrel to him that he wanted me to try it. And, uh, we tried it while we were there, it's fantastic.
And, uh, he did leave me just a little bit. I've got a little bitty small bottle here that Todd and I have a pour from. And we thought, you know, this just needs to make it on the show because we haven't had a 156 proof rye on the show. You heard that right, ever, ever. You heard that right, 156 proof. This is their San Luis Valley rye whiskey. This is, uh, and I, and I don't remember the exact age on it, but I'm gonna say it's in the. It's in the 5 to 8 year range.
Now, do they have, do they stack and like, I believe they have like the metal warehouse, these are, these are palletized kind of racks, yep, OK. And did he, did he know how this got to 156? I don't think they have any clue how this, this one got to be so high, but anyway, this one. It's kind of, let's just call it an outlier. They they normally don't come out like this. It's, I think that's a nice word for this. This is.
But we're gonna check it out, folks, and Todd and I are not gonna light any matches or anything while we're drinking this because it is cigars for this one. This thing is clearly in the hazmat range, so cheers, cheers. Some candy sweetness. Oh yeah, the nose is really nice on it. It has a hint of rice spice. It's like you can tell this is not in that 10 year range, right? But not gonna lie, I was a little scared to put my nose in it because you never know it doesn't singe.
It's got a nice round sweet right nose to it. Kind of a Not so much rye muffin anymore, but maybe a little bit more like um toast, rye toast, getting into the candy dry a little bit, not too much. It's great for the nose. I'm ready to burn my tongue. What you? Cheers, cheers. Got 911 on speed dial. Oh my gosh, that's so delicious. It's a buttery wash. Oh, that got dark.
Yeah, yeah, it goes, it comes in like this uh light but buttery kind of wash across the front of your tongue, and then it goes all like. Dark, that's like dark chocolate, uh, chocolate, um, a little bit of clove. Like a really roasty roasty note, like almost maybe even like a little smoky, right? Yeah, roasty smoky, you almost get a little bit of that kind of uh medicinal iodine, just a hint of it, just like a like a very light hint of it. Oh wow, 2 sip is just like.
Yeah, I mean, this would be dangerous to sit and drink for too long, but I'll be honest with you. It's delightful. It's really good. Wow, this is, uh, this is not. An everyday sipper. This is not something that uh. That you're gonna go grab off the shelf every day. You're gonna grab this once in a while, or you're gonna introduce your friends to it and say. This is a big 90 nightcap like you didn't sleep well the night before, this might be this might be the one that puts you down.
There's a little bit of that sort of smoky medicinal note to it. I kinda like that. Interesting, you don't get that very often in a rye. Get a little like. Like burnt maybe burnt orange is it, I guess you said that smoky, so like almost like a grilled burnt orange kind of thing and a little bit of like uh maybe even burnt marshmallow too, but toasted marshmallow, that's a good one.
Wow. So this is going out to a, I can't remember the exact town, but let's just say about halfway between Denver and Colorado Springs, maybe monument down near monument or so off there's a I wish I, I wish I had my notes, but there, there'll be a this, these things are gonna be on the shelf and, and if I If I get word of it and I'm supposed to get word when it releases, I'll make a post on it. So I'll definitely make a post on it. So in our Colorado roadies can run on grab one.
I, Alan told me he would, uh, send my son a message when it releases so he can run up and pick up a bottle or two, so. I don't expect it to stay long. At 156 proof, yeah, yeah. Yeah, you don't get that. Yeah, I was gonna say just the uniqueness of that it's gonna draw them in. Do you know about what MSRP might might be? Um, I don't, but I would expect this to probably be in the $70 to $80.80 90 maybe.
I mean, it's, it's a huge proof, but uh but the, you know, it, it is their San Luis Valley rye whiskey. And uh it's just uh an interesting area in Colorado that's kind of a depression in the earth where it's kind of a low ground and uh it has big temperature swings and it's uh Sort of a saddle below the mountains. It's um an interesting place. But you know, they're really big on uh sourcing Colorado grown grain, so. I'm gonna have a hard time tonight with the rankings, Todd, yeah.
But that's kind of expected, I think. Yeah, it's what we do. I would say, I'd probably usually say this every time we do the rankings. All 4 of these are are a buy for me. I mean, I know there's no chance of me seeing this this rye here. Well, it's possible, it's possible maybe if your son picks up one and he gets you a bottle and you know, drives it on a semi that's got the hazmat tag on it. But uh yeah, I mean we've had some great pours tonight and that's that's what it's about so.
Alright, so we had uh the Melwood bourbon. It was a bottle and bond, 10 proof. It was a 4 year old bourbon out of a pursuit. Um, they're paying homage to the Millwood distillery of of days gone by. And then we had the Derby Town bourbon, which was 122122.8, I believe, and it was a seven year, year, huh, seven-year bourbon also from pursuit. Um paying again more homage to Yeah, that passive Melwood and all that. And then, uh, and then we had the 15 star um Uh, reserve fining dry.
Which came in at 95 proof proof, yes, and uh let me go back a little bit. So the proof range is crazy, 95 to 156. So let's go back to the Melwood, the first one, it was a $29 bottle. It was a $375. Then there was a $49 bottle for the Derby Town $122 proof. The 15 stars was $139 139 dollars. And then finally, uh, this, you're not gonna get this, it'll, you could get it.
It'll be released at a store in Colorado, the 156 proof San Luis Valley rye whiskey, it is barrel 425 X out of Law's Whiskey House.
I'm curious to know if there's an X on any barrel that's this this high proof or if it's like, you know, if it's like 125z, that's not, you know, it could have been X for experimental for it's extra, extra, excellent, excellent, uh, but no, it will get released and and if I get the word in time, I will make sure to get the word out to the roadies so if they're So if they're in driving distance, uh, or whatever, they can, they can reach out and get a bottle, but yeah,
it'll be a store bottle out there from a, from a liquor store in Colorado. But a fantastic, I guess this will probably be in the 70 $80.90 dollars range. I would think so. I it hasn't been delivered yet. Therefore, it hasn't been priced yet, so we're just speculating on what it'll cost, but Um, if you can get 156 proof. Rye whiskey, uh, in the, um, well to medium aged range. Uh, for under $100 you're probably doing good, so. Yeah, that's one to grab just for the uniqueness, I think.
Yeah, that chocolate is getting more pronounced. That's crazy. Really warms you up though. This would be a cold weather. I'm ready to like lift weights or something. I'm like, oh woo. All right, Todd, so I think, I think we need to take a minute. Reflect And decide what's gonna be your #4 for the night. My number 4 is actually gonna be their rye, and I do that because it's excellent, but It's just going to be hard to find.
So I feel like that's like, you know, single barrels, you know, it's kind of like the cheat code if you will. Yeah. And I kind of feel the same way and I'm gonna, I'm going to go with you on that. I, although it's interesting and it, it has this great warming effect and this nice. Um, it's not balanced, it's just, it's all there. It's all it's, um, but it's a delicious rye. Yes, it makes me want to, if I do see a single barrel rye from them, yeah, I might give it a shot, that kind of thing.
It doesn't even have to be 156 proof, but yeah, so that's gonna be my number 4. Got it, got it. OK, so my number 3 is going to be Derby, Derby, I'm sorry, Melwood. I'm gonna agree with you there. Solid, solid bottle bond. Yeah, and that is a good price for a pint and you know, won't break your wallet. It's smaller, so and it's one of the better 4 year old bottle and bonds I've had in a long time. And we've had some good ones. I mean I'm thinking of the, the Brothers Bond's really good.
I don't think it's Brothers Bond good, but it's really good. And then we have our Bald and Bond show where we had Dettling and yeah, so we've had some really good ones. So that that would fit right. It's right up there with the with the best of them, no doubt about it. So and uh Ryan and Kenny did a great job on that one. So what's your number 2? My #2 is going to be the 15 stars. Me too. Oh, we're we're lockstep today on point. Yeah, great. That's a great point. It is really good.
I wish maybe like 7 or 8 like something like 103. It drinks so nice, but I don't know, I just want a little more. I think they proved it well for drinkability, but with it being a reserve, I think it needs to be something else, you know what I mean? Yeah, considering most of their stuff is in that 103 to 110 range. But yeah, that's a, I think it drinks better than the first West, but it just we might to compare that. That would be a good thing to do would be a good thing to do.
All right, so our winner. That means that the, uh, wow, Derbytown bourbon Derby Bourbon from uh Pursuit, 375 mL bottle for 4995, uh, as far as we know, available at the shop, but it could be on the shelf. Yeah, I'll find out some more info and put a little post kind of thing. We'll take some photos of the bottles and you know. And of course I'll probably send out some samples to some lucky roadie, some lucky roadie join that roadie page. Can you ship this 156? Uh, that one we might not do.
I don't think it might melt the box or something. I don't know. I would, you know, it's one thing to, to, to ship whiskey when you shouldn't, but it's a, it's another thing to ship has met when you should double double bottle it or something, double box it. All right. Well, Todd, it's been a great show. Lots of fun. I appreciate all the news updates from you. Keep them coming, yeah, definitely, and we have, uh, who we got coming up soon. So we've got uh Mendon Mill Mendon Mills of Nevada.
We've got we're talks with oak lore. We haven't got anything set but we got the whiskeys, we got their whiskeys, uh, and actually I think they're sending us another sample, so that's kind of what's holding us up there. We have a pretty cool chat coming up with uh Cave. Simanian at Rabbit Hole. He is the author, he is the co-author of a book called The Mother of Bourbon, which is about Mary Dowling.
Uh, we also haven't, speaking of authors, we're, I've got to send him some I told him I'd send him some dusty samples. Uh, his name is Aaron Goldfarb, and he wrote a book called Dusty Booze that I literally read on a flight down to Savannah.
It was so like I'm, I'm into vintage whiskey, so I mean I just just rolled through that and Aaron Goldfarb has already established himself well in the in the business so that should be a should be a really fun, yeah, it's kind of reached out to him he's like, sure, sounds good. So I'm very excited about that. We're gonna go hit up Greg Keeley with Larrikin Bourbon Company and yeah, uh Barry Brinier at RD1. Got a lot going on. I know. Got a lot going on.
Aaron Malli's at uh At Larrikin now, so he moved for so we just had him on the show and Jay Mattingly now he's at uh. At Larrikin, so yeah, be great to get out there and I'm hoping that um Greg gets his cigar smoke room open out there so. He's got a nice little like uh humidors you just gotta go outside to smoke. He hasn't opened his uh cigar bar bar-ish part yeah and then actually hopefully we're gonna chat with the pursuit guys and. Yeah, maybe revisit this that show. That should be fun.
Lots and lots going on. All right, lots of fun, folks. You just need to tune in. Yeah. All right. Well, you can find the Bourbon Road on all social media outlets. You can find us on Instagram, Twitter, YouTube, TikTok, Facebook, threads. We do all of those every single week. Todd and I get together, have some guests on. Sometimes it's just Todd and I like today, but we'll, uh, we're always drinking whiskey, we're always having fun. Hopefully, we're letting you know.
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