Ep 227 - Smooth Ambler

Brandon, Aman, Wes, and I talk all things Smooth Ambler both their new self distilled product and their MGP.

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Transcript

SPEAKER_05 1:08

Welcome to the Bourbon Boys. I am joined by my co-host, Brandon.

SPEAKER_04 1:14

What's going on?

SPEAKER_05 1:15

And we are back at Amon's table. Hello, hello. With Amon. Thanks for coming in. And Wes. Wes here too. Parker's off mic again, but he's down there, he's down there talking on the phone. So we'll uh he'll he'll interject at some point, I'm sure. Uh but this episode we're gonna be doing another one of our well, it's not an NDP so much anymore. I guess it kind of is. They're still sourcing barrels, but they're doing their own juice. But we're gonna talk about Smooth Ambler. And we have a barrel pick uh through Mythical that we did of Smooth Ambler's own juice. It's the same mash bill as high rye MGP. It's almost ten years old. And then we're gonna taste some very special offerings from uh Smooth Ambler as well.

SPEAKER_04 1:59

Very nice. I'm looking forward to it. You know, obviously a a brand label that has a lot of history and to go with it. So I'm excited. I like what they're doing. It's very exciting. So Amon is a snare.

SPEAKER_05 2:12

Yeah, he's he's jumping off the jumping off the couch. Uh so we actually, Amon and Wes and I went down to Smooth Ambler and did a pick. Uh I almost got food poisoning during this.

SPEAKER_03 2:25

Allegedly.

SPEAKER_05 2:26

Because Wes made a burger that was almost pretty much tartar. Still moan. People like tartar. Still moan.

SPEAKER_03 2:33

Tartare's good.

SPEAKER_01 2:35

I got an epic picture on that trip. Yes, I bought. Oh, I bet.

SPEAKER_05 2:38

Oh, it was me with my hand down my pants. That's right, yeah. There you go. Yeah, he was in the loft, so he had a picture of me with my hand on my pants. That was a very fun week. That was a very funny weekend. So it was like a good time. Let's talk about the pick experience at Smooth Ambler, not my hand down my pants so much. I mean, we could do that later, but not on the podcast. Okay. That's the for the Patreon. That's that's a pick for as somebody that's been to a pick at Smooth Ambler. What were your all's thoughts on it?

SPEAKER_01 3:03

Um, it was a fun experience. I was not a huge fan of some of the barrels that we got because we had hoped they would sit on them, but that didn't happen. Anywho. Water under the bridge.

SPEAKER_05 3:16

You still have a smooth Ambler barrel aging in your garage. I cannot confirm that or deny that.

SPEAKER_01 3:25

Yeah, I can't confirm or deny that. But yeah, it was a fun experience. It was fun going there, and uh it was uh fun Airbnb by the river, and we had an interesting neighbor, all that. It was fun.

SPEAKER_03 3:36

Yes, yes, certainly fun. Um I wouldn't say it was particularly different than really any other major, even major distillery. Um but they didn't but they did do a good job of like here's a bunch of barrels to try and they did the best they could with you know the average ages of the barrels that they had. And uh, you know, Val is uh amazing, and we got to have uh a fun time at the Airbnb, so it was not so much about like you know the quality of the liquid per se. Uh it was more about the journey. I don't know, just yeah, it was the whole experience kit and kaboo.

SPEAKER_05 4:19

Well at that point they had lowered the age, so it wasn't higher age stuff, right? They were five to six years. Yeah, right.

SPEAKER_03 4:25

Yeah, and yeah, and you know, you can't really there's not a whole lot of variants in that.

SPEAKER_01 4:31

We had chosen three barrels, and the conversation we had there was that we'll take one now and let's sit on the others. But I think it's more pronounced call when they get bottled and all, it was out of their hands because they bottled them out at the same time and sent them all to me at the same frickin' time.

SPEAKER_05 4:46

So talking about uh Smooth Ambler actually producing their own whiskey, who's had Smooth Ambler distilled whiskey so far? I have.

SPEAKER_04 4:55

I have what did you think about the first? Um so I felt um And it's okay to be negative. Correct. Uh I felt it was a little young, I think it was a six year ahead. Um, but I felt like where it's going is a a path or avenue that I like. That um that caramel traditional bourbon. So I like where it's heading. It's not there yet, but I think they can get there based on where they're at right now. I'm similar to what Amon's saying, like I'm curious to see some of their stuff age a little bit longer. And then I can then I kind of want to come back to them and see them.

SPEAKER_05 5:25

Okay.

SPEAKER_01 5:27

The only one I had had from them in the past that was around this slate was the 375s they did, which were really, really young. Yeah. And those were not great. They were less than ideal.

SPEAKER_05 5:39

Yes, less than ideal.

SPEAKER_01 5:41

But this is actually very, very good. Okay, it's very promising.

SPEAKER_05 5:44

We're gonna talk about the whiskey that we're we've got in our glass right now, which is the 10-year-old high rye. Hi-Rai, I'm doing quote unquote because I can't do it on camera. Well, the quote unquote high-rai MGP mash bill.

SPEAKER_04 5:56

Well, first, my question for you is how many times have you actually been to Smooth Ambler? Because I know you've done multiple picks, and can you talk about that? Is his experience different now? Oh, yeah.

SPEAKER_05 6:05

I'd be interested to hear the It's changed a lot since the original days. They just basically handed you a drill and said go at it and have at it through the ricouse. But they had a limited amount of barrels at that point because it was started out MGP only, so they had one one garage, one barn.

SPEAKER_03 6:22

How many barrels?

SPEAKER_05 6:23

Uh I think we tried twenty sixty, seventy for out for you to try. And we tried like twenty-four, twenty-five the first time I went there.

SPEAKER_04 6:37

And and then this last time you sampled like how like how is it different?

SPEAKER_05 6:41

Uh well. You know what I mean?

SPEAKER_01 6:44

It's it gets more corporatized.

SPEAKER_04 6:46

Yes. I think that's where we're going. That's kind of what we're wanted to get.

SPEAKER_05 6:49

The thing is, it's it's hard for me to say that because I have a different experience and I don't want to feel like I'm being the guy who gets a lot of stuff. You do, you do get them. That's how the world works. But I've been going there for a long time. So they actually took me to the Rick House, and we were we were doing it old school style where you actually got to drill a bunch of barrels and try whatever you wanted to. We tried a bunch of their stuff. Then we tried MGP stuff. I was trying to pick one of each and I actually enjoyed their stuff more than I enjoyed the MGP they had there. Um but yeah, it's it's more of a uh a traditional pick experience, generally speaking, now where you go in and they have a certain amount of barrels they've picked for you to try.

SPEAKER_04 7:29

So back then, 60 barrels on site, what do you think we have on site now, barrel-wise from them?

SPEAKER_05 7:35

Uh are we talking about their stuff or MGP? Like whatever they got on, they've got hundreds. Hundreds. Maybe thousands.

SPEAKER_04 7:41

Thousands, right?

SPEAKER_03 7:42

Like there's a few, there's a few warehouses now. They have a lot of warehouses now.

SPEAKER_04 7:47

So I'm just saying, like, that's crazy to me their growth to go from that 60 level to where they are now.

SPEAKER_05 7:51

Well, they just had one rick house and it was just all MGP at that point. And they had one down the hill that they were filling with their new mates.

SPEAKER_01 7:57

When did they get bought?

SPEAKER_05 8:00

Five years ago. Five.

SPEAKER_01 8:01

So you're talking pre-prono days. Yeah, it's all that pre-prenot. When once a big corporation comes in, they corporatize it, they make it leaner and more efficient and that's why I I to me I would say it's a big thing.

SPEAKER_04 8:12

Dump a bunch of guesses. Um the old scout pick now would be uh the smooth ambler, I'm sorry. Um used to see that old scout bottle, but that smooth ambler pick um is gonna be much more commercialized and more here's your cup, here's your cup, here's your cup, as opposed to let's go in the Rick House and check some. Absolutely. Yeah.

SPEAKER_05 8:29

And and Smooth Ambler, they're actually not really doing picks of their own juice yet. Right. This is gonna be probably their second or third maybe pick that's done of their own juice.

SPEAKER_04 8:39

Once again, that relationship helps though, right? Yeah, they want to work with you because you're gonna be able to do it.

SPEAKER_05 8:43

I keep going back and you you build that loyalty. Uh but let's talk about the whiskey. Absolutely. Um this is ten year old high rye high rye MGP standard, so 36% rye. What do you think, Amon?

SPEAKER_01 8:57

It is very tasty. Um it gives off the MGP vibes. Um, it does not show age in the nose like MGP did at that age that they had. It's got that big sweetness, the caramel.

SPEAKER_05 9:13

Um well that has a lot to do with it being age in West Virginia versus Kentucky or Indiana, because it's not as much plus it the hills of West Virginia.

SPEAKER_01 9:22

It kind of sits in that little whatever they call them out there, like a little valley ish. Hollers back in the holler. One of them haulers over there. Yeah.

SPEAKER_05 9:29

I get lots of fruit. Pretty good. That's pretty good. Lots of fruit.

SPEAKER_01 9:33

Yeah, very fruity. Yeah, very fruity. I get that red fruit. It's uh acidic. Acidic, yeah, very fruit. Friendly.

SPEAKER_04 9:39

Friendly, it's friendly. It's very friendly. It's like West Virginia. It's it's not uh it's not an ethanol in your mouth kind of thing. Like it's very nice. Sits back in that palate pretty pretty well, in my opinion. Like uh nice little hug, not a big burn on it. Uh was the proof on that?

SPEAKER_05 9:57

He didn't put that on the bottom.

SPEAKER_01 9:59

What would you what would you use?

SPEAKER_05 10:00

I think it's probably 120-ish. I was just saying about 118, 120 would be mine.

SPEAKER_01 10:04

And it does not taste or smell like youth, so that's a good thing. That's a win. That's a win.

SPEAKER_05 10:10

Uh we're not going to mention any other systems that have.

SPEAKER_04 10:15

This is very good. Very good.

SPEAKER_05 10:17

Uh so in talking about Smooth Ambler, and we tried their own distillate, which we see is growing and getting better with age, obviously. Some of the early stuff, kind of rough, big level, rough. But now their stuff's coming of age, and I think that's gonna be one of the ones that comes out in newer stuff that's gonna be more popular, hopefully, to grow the brand. Right. Not for necessarily for Pano, but for just people that live there still. Right. Right.

SPEAKER_04 10:49

And have you talked to are they gonna bat are they gonna batch a lot of stuff, or what are they what avenues do you think they're gonna try to get to?

SPEAKER_01 10:55

They they have some uh shelf skews, which are huge bashed items. Yeah. Okay. They have a contradiction, rye, uh, they have their regular scout stuff on the shop. How does that do for you? Um it does okay, uh comparable to some other MGP NDP bottlers, but now that they're moving to their own stuff, hopefully, which could stand out in the market.

SPEAKER_04 11:16

I guess my next question for the table is uh where do the where are they retail wise? Are they in the middle, are they high side, low side?

SPEAKER_01 11:23

Fifty to sixty usually.

SPEAKER_03 11:25

Very low then.

SPEAKER_01 11:27

As far as like the ninety price, that's pretty low. Yeah. It's it's decent.

SPEAKER_04 11:39

Right? Like they're very competitive in the market, which I think they are says a lot, and then we're starting to get up to the age a little bit.

SPEAKER_01 11:46

The issue with a lot of producers like that is that they don't have anyone in the market putting liquid to lips. Correct. Samplings and all, that's what helps with this thing. And Perno's been terrible about backing their bourbon brands. They have Jefferson's, they have this. They've never really invested in retail tastings and all, which again, that's another conversation.

SPEAKER_04 12:08

Right. Yeah, for sure. Yeah. But this is ten year MGP. This is a high rye. What, the next one? No, what we're at right now.

SPEAKER_05 12:15

Like this is well, it's not MGP.

SPEAKER_04 12:17

Right.

SPEAKER_05 12:17

Oh, I thought we were getting we were getting into the previous No, the the last one you had in your glass is the still buy Smooth Ambler, but it's MGP mash bill. It's a high rye MGP mash bill. Gotcha, gotcha, gotcha.

SPEAKER_01 12:28

60364. Yep.

SPEAKER_05 12:30

So the next one we're doing is actually uh high rye MGP as well. And this was picked at Smooth Drambler E last year, and it was the one that I was championing because I thought it was the best one. It's a barrel 53, which anybody who listens to this podcast knows my love for barrel 53. What do you do? And everybody at this table pretty much unbiased.

SPEAKER_04 12:50

Unbiased, right?

SPEAKER_05 12:51

No, my uh love for you can go ahead past it. You don't have to cork it if you don't want to. No, give it to Parker. Don't let Parker have a bottle. Yeah, but I was like, Parker already grabbed it, so I was like, get you a little nipple. Well, you better watch out. Parker will grab anything. Feeling good.

unknown 13:05

Hey, yeah. I'm not gonna be like Ray and Ray's Roman game.

SPEAKER_02 13:08

A fistful of almonds. I won't be like someone named Ray who took some 19-year-old rum, started making rum and cokes when he got a hold of.

SPEAKER_03 13:18

I don't know anything about that.

SPEAKER_02 13:20

No, you were the victim of that.

SPEAKER_03 13:21

I don't know anything about that.

SPEAKER_02 13:23

Well, you do. Some Ray doesn't know supposedly.

SPEAKER_03 13:26

I found I found the rum bottle. There is still maybe half of it left. I've I've I've figured out he was making rum and cokes with it. And so I hid it. And then I found it. Oh, your dad you're done. This is Wes's dad. Yes. I forgot I forgot where I put it, and then I came across it, and it still had a bunch of rum in it. So I need to look at it.

SPEAKER_01 13:49

But saving grace is he was using Mexican Coke. Oh gosh, the best coke there is. I'm not mad at it. Silver line. Exactly. You can appreciate a player. So this is a uh appreciate a player.

SPEAKER_05 14:01

How many years was this? This is a 10-year-old high rhyme GP. I think it's high Rye MGP. It's 122 proof.

SPEAKER_03 14:08

See that nose. Uh it's really nutty on the on the palate. That's what she said.

SPEAKER_05 14:18

So you disagree with my my selection at the Dramblery.

SPEAKER_03 14:22

No, I no, I I enjoy it. It's just not like that butterscotchy.

SPEAKER_05 14:27

Well, the color on it was amazing compared to every other barrel there. Right. As we found out. I do like the color.

SPEAKER_01 14:31

It's very dark. I see the nutty comment. The nose uh the nose is nutty to me, too. Really? Really?

SPEAKER_04 14:39

You get a lazy nut. I don't get as much nut on the nose as I do on the palate.

SPEAKER_01 14:42

Almost like a vanilla bean on that. Like a nutshell thing.

SPEAKER_05 14:45

He gets less nut on the nose. That's pretty good. You always lead. Less nut on the nose. You just had to jump that jump.

SPEAKER_03 14:56

Don't be gross. I'm not being I'm being accurate.

SPEAKER_04 14:59

That's very nice.

SPEAKER_05 15:01

So this was selected at the Smooth Dramblery. I do get a nut. Which is an annual event for Smooth Ambler, where all their fans come in from their uh fan page and we get to interact with the people from the distillery. Pick barrels, hang out. That's sort of a weekend to have fun with uh your family is what it used to feel like.

SPEAKER_04 15:24

How long have they been doing that?

SPEAKER_05 15:26

Uh seven years? We took one year off for COVID. Sure. Maybe two.

SPEAKER_04 15:32

How was the food?

SPEAKER_05 15:34

Food was really good this year.

SPEAKER_01 15:43

Okay. So this year it was in Kentucky though, right? Oh, you did go out there. Oh, I think they sent a wagon, right?

SPEAKER_05 15:49

Yeah, well, you're thinking about the whiskey wagon that was supposed to be. Oh, yeah, yeah, that's what I'm thinking about. They didn't end up bringing the whiskey wagon, they just brought these bottles. I see. Andrew still came and hung out and drank with us and chilled for a little bit.

SPEAKER_01 16:01

Nice. I bought a decanter from uh Smooth Ambler the last time we were there. Remember those handmade ones?

SPEAKER_05 16:09

With a spiral red on it.

SPEAKER_01 16:10

Yeah, it's gorgeous. They have great, great glassware. Because those are all unique, especially how that cap matches to the Andrew told me all about it that time. That's why I bought one. It's pretty cool. Some some dude there uh hand blows them and makes them all that's kind of cool.

SPEAKER_05 16:24

He hand sold it to you.

SPEAKER_04 16:26

What's something like that running? I don't remember. Yeah, it's a write-off.

SPEAKER_01 16:32

Yeah.

SPEAKER_05 16:32

Business expense.

SPEAKER_04 16:33

It's part of the airport.

SPEAKER_01 16:35

Nobody pays for it.

SPEAKER_05 16:37

Wes, what do you think about this barrel?

unknown 16:39

I love it.

SPEAKER_01 16:40

I love it.

SPEAKER_03 16:41

Uh um script. All right. Thank you so much. I'll be here all day. Yeah. It's uh nutty and it has interesting oak-driven characteristics that make me think of like hay and um like old tobacco and things like that. It's it's uh more more on the gourmand tannic side than like the bright, acidic, fruity side to me.

SPEAKER_05 17:14

Brandon has something to say.

SPEAKER_04 17:16

No, I just uh Amon killed me with that.

SPEAKER_05 17:17

Hey, I wasn't ready for that. I wasn't ready for that.

SPEAKER_04 17:24

Uh so like what's the retail price on like a bottle like this run?

SPEAKER_05 17:27

Uh those were I want to say eighty bucks. Okay. Very reasonable.

SPEAKER_04 17:32

Right. I was just saying, so they're so regular shelf pricers, about fifty-two, fifty-five. Well, yeah, this was a special occasion bottle, so I guess what I'm getting at is$80 for that, I'm in all day.

SPEAKER_05 17:42

Yeah, I mean that's their their stuff is very reasonable. We did a 10-year-old pick with him last year, I think it was a hundred bucks. Okay. Which is uh which is unusual.

SPEAKER_01 17:51

Would you say that this is a little off profile for Smooth Ambler in a good way? Like for MGP. Interesting. Yeah.

SPEAKER_05 18:00

Yeah. I mean it's not a typical MGP fruity fruit bomb that you would expect out of something like that, but it's definitely it's it's got some character to it. And I think a lot of those that's one of those ones you find in the group that's got different aspects to it.

SPEAKER_01 18:16

Yeah, that nuttiness definitely brings another dimension to it.

SPEAKER_05 18:19

Absolutely.

SPEAKER_03 18:20

Well, you also said it's you know, the the color of the whiskey is, you know, considerably different than most of that age. And when you have that extra, you know, pull out of the barrel, you're getting something that's not gonna necessarily be, you know, this evolution of like this kind of corniness that turns into cherry, which most MGP does. So that's an it's an interesting like weird celebration barrel.

SPEAKER_01 18:50

I haven't had a 53 with that much nuttiness on it before.

SPEAKER_03 18:56

I agree. It's off profile. Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 18:58

Jad your thoughts?

SPEAKER_05 18:59

I don't know. Those barrel 50, there was a couple of those Jepsons barrels I didn't think were like super fruity. They had more of the bigger. That's what I think of.

SPEAKER_03 19:06

That's what I think of, yeah.

SPEAKER_01 19:08

I didn't think this was this nutty though. I mean Was it this nutty?

SPEAKER_03 19:11

There were some oh well, this is also considerably older. Yeah. Yeah, right. Yeah, that would have that's probably the right age right now.

unknown 19:18

Sure.

SPEAKER_03 19:18

Sure. Yeah. It it'd be so interesting to have known what those barrels tasted like.

SPEAKER_05 19:29

Crazy, right?

SPEAKER_03 19:30

Crazy, crazy, crazy.

SPEAKER_05 19:32

Tremaine. I will pour out all your malort.

SPEAKER_03 19:40

I don't even I don't even blame him. I blame the marketing lady or whoever.

SPEAKER_05 19:47

Alright, the next bottle we're gonna try in the line is going to be a very old scout.

SPEAKER_03 19:52

Tremaine's on his yacht. He doesn't give a shit.

SPEAKER_05 19:55

Andrew brought this to me for the uh for the mythical thing. Why you hand it to me? I already poured it. You stuck your hand out at it. I was talking like away. You handed it to me. Take it away. Oh, you trust the poorest. See, I'm here, I got you. That's what happens back. Don't trust him. Anyway, uh 16. It's 113 proof.

SPEAKER_01 20:22

112, I think.

SPEAKER_05 20:23

112, 113. The very old scout line is a low rye MGP. That's how you differentiate between very old scout and their single barrel program. Interesting. Uh but this is 16-year-old. Andrew brought it down for the mythical event. I brought it here.

SPEAKER_01 20:38

Oh man.

SPEAKER_05 20:39

Uh he uh he he brought it in and he handed it to me. Oh, he didn't bring it in, he handed it to me in the car, and he was like handed it to me, and then I took it in. So friggin' good. And he was like, Oh, that's what I want to see. Like, I was gonna take it home and sell it. Like it was put it on there, yeah.$300. Enjoy yourself.

SPEAKER_01 20:57

He knows how you are.

SPEAKER_05 20:58

Uh yeah, unfortunately he does. Anyway, anyway, low Rye MGP from Smooth Ambler, very old scout. These are normally price-wise, I think around$300 when they do very old scouts. Retail. Retail. Retail. What about secondary market? Afterwards. Uh generally speaking, Smooth Ambler is a underrated buy online, which is crazy.

SPEAKER_03 21:28

I mean, you can get they're the like pioneers. Yeah.

SPEAKER_05 21:32

But you can get stuff online in secondary markets pretty cheap for Smooth Ambler. I mean, 10-year-old MGP, you can get them for like four or something.

SPEAKER_03 21:40

They used to be there's I was gonna say they used to be four or five hundred. They're still the same. Come back down. They come back down to what? Four or five hundred. Four or five hundred. No, no, they can't. That's where they were higher, but it went up to like eight, nine hundred, and now they're like coming back down.

SPEAKER_04 21:56

For whatever reason.

SPEAKER_03 21:57

What kind of barrels are we talking about?

SPEAKER_01 21:58

So if you want the mythical. Last mythical bottle he'll sell it to you for$300.

SPEAKER_03 22:02

Give it a those are like a grand.

unknown 22:06

Right.

SPEAKER_01 22:06

Right. Let me self-glaze a little over here.

SPEAKER_03 22:19

And it was, you know, 9 to 11 year old, and those were like about$400. And some were like$350 and some were like$450. But they mostly stayed in that range. And then there were, you know, these like um hype bottles that everybody like.

SPEAKER_04 22:41

No, they weren't unicards. Or like they were just well known.

SPEAKER_03 22:48

Yeah, so following. Yep. So these people uh would taste, you know, 20 barrels together and then determine which ones were their favorites, and then those barrels, of course, became more expensive, but the the like average price to me was four hundred. Okay. They're still right about that. Yeah. Yeah.

unknown 23:06

Okay.

SPEAKER_03 23:07

Okay.

SPEAKER_01 23:08

How many mythical bottles would you like?

SPEAKER_03 23:12

Back up the truck. Back up the truck. I can has. I can have none of those.

SPEAKER_05 23:18

That was a short barrel, too.

SPEAKER_03 23:21

How short?

SPEAKER_05 23:22

120 something?

SPEAKER_03 23:24

It's not.

SPEAKER_05 23:24

I mean, it's shorter than most for a 10-year-old MGP.

SPEAKER_03 23:27

It's not.

SPEAKER_01 23:28

Just give it to him. Just let him have it. I'll give it. That was a short time. Just let him have it. What do you mean like that? No, I wouldn't spawn in there to be. Where's your kindness?

SPEAKER_05 23:40

You're not jolly anymore. You're not big enough to be jolly.

SPEAKER_03 23:44

Where's your kindness? I'm a curmudgeon.

SPEAKER_02 23:47

That is, you're asking it to a guy where that's an unanswerable question in this context. Unanswerable. Where's Wes' kindness? How can you ask where something is when it doesn't always exist? Oh no, no, seriously.

SPEAKER_03 24:00

My icy heart.

SPEAKER_02 24:02

Oh yes. Parker comes in with a top rope elbow.

SPEAKER_05 24:07

So who wants to who wants to be the first to give your tasting notes on this one? Go ahead, Wes.

SPEAKER_03 24:13

Butterscotch, cherry, dried cherries, apricots. That's good. That's so it's so good. It's really fruity. It's like super fruity. Super oily. Candy. Yeah, that's another thing. It's like I don't I don't focus so much on like the textures of things anymore. Because I'm used to cognac just being so pretentiousness. But it's really nice. This is a great excellent.

SPEAKER_05 24:46

I get a little nuttiness to this too.

SPEAKER_03 24:48

It's it's complex though. It's not just like one. It's not a one node.

SPEAKER_04 24:52

There's a lot going on because I get I almost get like that cherry with that vanilla, but separate almost.

SPEAKER_03 24:59

There's like also this kind of like varnishy, gluey thing going on that I really like.

SPEAKER_01 25:03

That's the oil to me on the nose.

SPEAKER_04 25:06

You smell what? Oil.

SPEAKER_03 25:10

That varnishy. I think oily. I think more like textury?

unknown 25:14

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 25:14

Yeah. Okay. Like the slickness.

SPEAKER_05 25:17

The slickness.

SPEAKER_03 25:19

Nice slick feel. Right down my throat. That's a delicious mouth. Nice nutty slick mouthfeel. Yeah.

SPEAKER_05 25:26

Alright, hand me the rye. We're moving on to the uh 12-year-old LE Rye.

unknown 25:31

Andrew Broad. Sure.

SPEAKER_03 25:33

Sure. There's cinnamon for sure. Clove. This is uh I could deconstruct this for an hour.

SPEAKER_05 25:40

This is 111.8 proof 12-year-old uh it's a very, very complex MDP rye.

SPEAKER_04 25:46

This is one of those like you know I want to have towards my end. Like because I want to like take my time with it. It's a sip, right? I'm gonna take my time, I want to talk about it. I want to talk about it. Right.

unknown 25:56

There's one right there for you.

SPEAKER_04 25:57

Thank you, sir. Strawberries, it's really strawberries. It's very bright to me.

SPEAKER_01 26:02

Uh thank you, Andrew, for handing Chad this bottle so we could enjoy it.

SPEAKER_05 26:06

Thank you, Andy.

SPEAKER_04 26:08

Alright, so this is the next bottle. I'm not gonna give it to Parker. Okay, alright. He's he's gotten enough trouble. You've gotten enough trouble, so yeah. Wow, blame shit. Made a career of it. So what are we, you know?

SPEAKER_00 26:25

Yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_04 26:25

Yeah, it says the guy that says no kindness.

SPEAKER_05 26:33

Oh, Amon's pouring it for Parker.

SPEAKER_04 26:38

I wasn't even trusted with the pour. Can you pour the bottle?

SPEAKER_01 26:46

Nah, that's not what I was doing. I thought you had your hands busy, so I thought I'd help you out. Much appreciated.

SPEAKER_04 26:51

See, I Amon's found his kindness. He found his kindness.

SPEAKER_01 26:55

It's always about me. Correct.

SPEAKER_05 26:58

Well, he took his life in his own hands today flying a plane, so I sure did.

SPEAKER_01 27:02

That's fun. Yeah.

SPEAKER_05 27:04

Nobody jumped out? Like everybody stayed. There's only two people in it. So the other guy knew how to fly, so the instructor jumped out. You're big trouble. I am Freddy and you failed. Like you failed. I'm about to land this plane by myself.

SPEAKER_01 27:22

That was uh the scariest thing, that landing, how we just stuck it. God damn. So Waksha Airport is right by a limestone quarry. Watch your language, sir. So when you're coming in, uh yeah, exactly. There's a lot of that updraft right by the quarry. So it goes whoop whoop. You gotta stick it? He stuck it. How many years is this?

SPEAKER_05 27:43

Yeah. This is a 12.

SPEAKER_04 27:45

12.

SPEAKER_05 27:47

Yep, 12-year-old.

SPEAKER_04 27:50

Same asheal.

SPEAKER_05 27:52

This is rye whiskey. 955. Okay.

SPEAKER_04 27:57

We're talking about flying planes. I'm just gonna get my ducks in a row here. Says the guy who's wearing an orange. No pun intended.

SPEAKER_01 28:04

The University of Nike. I can make a joke that'd be very inappropriate right now. But I probably should have. Go ahead. Dark. Your place. What are you gonna do? No.

SPEAKER_05 28:13

No, no. It's Amon's house now.

SPEAKER_01 28:16

It's it's more than that.

SPEAKER_05 28:20

He's trying to be professional. This nose on this is ridiculous. Profess.

SPEAKER_01 28:27

It's it's got that freshness, that piney.

SPEAKER_04 28:29

I I don't get any ethanol off anything.

SPEAKER_01 28:32

No. It's it's got enough sweetness and darkness that pull a lot of bourbon notes too.

SPEAKER_05 28:37

I like that Wes is here with his sunglasses dangling off his shirt.

SPEAKER_01 28:41

That's how the cool people do it.

SPEAKER_05 28:44

Vertical strike.

SPEAKER_01 28:46

It could get sunny in here at any time.

SPEAKER_05 28:48

I left my Ray Bans in the car.

SPEAKER_03 28:51

It's I mean, it's almost sunset.

SPEAKER_05 28:56

What? I got pants on?

SPEAKER_01 28:59

I don't know. I don't know. There was no contact for the introjection.

unknown 29:03

No one's watching, so you don't know.

SPEAKER_05 29:09

Who let Parker on the mark? I don't know.

SPEAKER_04 29:14

He leaned into it.

SPEAKER_05 29:15

I had to do that. So he doesn't I leave my pants on all the time. I'm not my middle child. He takes his pants off immediately.

SPEAKER_01 29:23

Pants? When you're comfortable, you need to take your pants off. It's true. Yeah, these are the most restricting of things.

SPEAKER_05 29:30

Put my hand down my pants, apparently.

SPEAKER_01 29:32

Yes, you do. I have a picture to prove it.

SPEAKER_05 29:33

But we're watching Dave Chappelle. That was a Dave Chappelle night. Chappelle show. Chappelle show.

SPEAKER_03 29:40

Speaking of MGP, you brought uh Defense and Sweet Tart. Oh yeah, those samples. Um Big Red Droid. And what else? You had four, right? I think so.

SPEAKER_05 29:57

I can't remember what they all were, but we did have Runoffs. Yep. We had samples from all those.

SPEAKER_01 30:01

You were you were very triggered, Wes. I was extremely triggered. I gotta find these models. Would Pips get this done?

SPEAKER_03 30:08

I didn't exactly. Yeah, can I trade mead for I don't remember that? I made posts.

SPEAKER_01 30:15

I know you did.

SPEAKER_03 30:16

Trading the Venn diagram didn't exist. Yeah. There were two completely separate circles.

SPEAKER_05 30:25

As he was undercooking our burgers, he was a good one.

SPEAKER_03 30:28

I needed salaryman to need pips. Fair enough. You gotta eat that mic.

SPEAKER_05 30:35

You gotta eat that mic. What did you say? Oh yo, if you cook it doesn't exist.

SPEAKER_01 30:42

It's like cookie. Probably.

SPEAKER_02 30:43

When you cook it, it gets worse. I don't know why people bake cookies. The dough is better. I don't know.

SPEAKER_03 30:48

I I saw uh salmonella bank. I saw a quick well no, eggs are fine. What do I know? Yeah if you eat if you eat the cookie dough soon enough, it won't have time to grow the salmonella that'll kill you. So that's what we're baking.

SPEAKER_01 31:03

You gotta make it and then eat it. Does this stuff move through you quicker than the incubation period? Right, exactly. There you go. Now we're playing with easy over there, Mr. Science Man. Well, we should.

SPEAKER_04 31:20

I hope I get through this cookie.

SPEAKER_00 31:21

So here's the five.

SPEAKER_03 31:22

But so here's the quick tip if you make cookie dough, leave it in the fridge for like three to five days and then make the cookies.

SPEAKER_04 31:34

How many times in Chad's life do you think he's made cookie dough? And I I have no idea. Either way, he could bake cookies every week.

SPEAKER_03 31:40

Wow, how many times has Chad made cookies every week? Cookie dough in his life. Zero. What do you think it is?

SPEAKER_01 31:46

He's a toll house kind of guy, I think.

SPEAKER_03 31:48

Can I go like over under? Are we talking about handmade previously?

SPEAKER_04 31:51

Yes, from scratch. Like, yeah, no, no mix, no box, no nothing, no.

SPEAKER_03 31:54

Like from scratch, Chad making cookies. I'm gonna go zero under.

SPEAKER_04 32:01

I definitely think he's done it. So over under is one. I I would say two. I'm gonna put it at two.

SPEAKER_05 32:07

Okay. Under under and two. It's under. It's one. Tollhouse one one time. I made uh sugar cookie. It's impressive.

SPEAKER_01 32:17

Okay. Alright. I see. From scratch. Sugar cookie dead from scratch for Christmas? Now we're questioning. Now we're questioning. No, he just felt like cookies one day. He did it last Tuesday. He was just like today's. I'm gonna make some sugar cookies today.

SPEAKER_05 32:32

I'm gonna cut these, cut these things in, make it delicious.

SPEAKER_01 32:35

That's right. So four days in the fridge. What does that do to the dough?

SPEAKER_03 32:39

Four or five days. It uh uh it does a couple things. One is it allows all the flour to absorb all of the moisture that you add to it, and then it concentrates. So you're so you're you're creating this like homogeneous dough that has been perfect. It's like making chili. Sure. I think the loss of the moisture because of the freeze drying is probably the most. You make the chili and then you put it in the fridge, and then a couple days later and it gets better. Same thing with cookie dough.

SPEAKER_04 33:12

So would you say you're dry aging cookies then? Like what would you say?

SPEAKER_03 33:15

No, you put saran wrap over it so that it doesn't like turn into a rock. Right. Yep. But it's but it still allows all the things developing.

SPEAKER_01 33:24

It's still gonna lose some moisture for sure. It does.

SPEAKER_03 33:27

And they don't spread as much and they get cracklier. Here we go. And they're like they develop this like butterscotch thing. It's crazy.

SPEAKER_01 33:39

Yes.

SPEAKER_05 33:40

Speaking of pairing bourbon and get back on track since we've gone way off track.

SPEAKER_01 33:45

See, that's how you bring it back. The weave.

SPEAKER_05 33:47

This is uh the the final pour is gonna be an Amon's pour. Amon's in Mythical did a uh obtaining pick, rye whiskey. This is a 14-year-old.

SPEAKER_01 33:57

I think so.

SPEAKER_05 33:59

14-year-old rye MGP, uh 120 proof.

SPEAKER_01 34:04

Yeah, I think what was unique about this was that it was new oak for the first 13 and then a year or so in used oak.

SPEAKER_05 34:11

Is that what it was?

SPEAKER_01 34:12

Yeah. No. I think so. There was something about it.

SPEAKER_03 34:19

I thought he put it in the morning.

SPEAKER_01 34:22

No, that's why it doesn't say straight rye on it, I think.

SPEAKER_05 34:25

Brandon, we can't have you on the podcast anywhere. You're kidding me.

SPEAKER_01 34:27

There was something, there was some used oak. Okay. Honesty is a virtue.

SPEAKER_05 34:36

This is uh Gene Naismith special.

SPEAKER_01 34:38

Yes, it is.

SPEAKER_05 34:40

You gotta give something to Oh, geez. Yeah, right. Oh geez. Oh geez. That's a Wisconsin.

SPEAKER_01 34:49

Well, you're not allowed to touch when it's food and not allow to pour when it's booze. I hope people can hear Parker, at least the ambience.

SPEAKER_03 34:58

I think they do. There's noise back there. Good.

SPEAKER_05 35:00

Yeah, I keep the filter off. Nice. So you can hear ambience. So unfiltered. So you can hear the uh the music here. I can hear it.

SPEAKER_03 35:07

Just like I like my bourbon. There it is.

SPEAKER_04 35:12

So this is obtaining you picked on this? Oh, I can hear that.

SPEAKER_05 35:18

They said a sample.

SPEAKER_03 35:25

Way, way, way brighter than the smooth handler. Way more.

SPEAKER_04 35:31

This bottle's obviously been it's had a little time to breathe a little bit.

SPEAKER_05 35:35

Oh yeah, this is towards the end of the bottom. Do you have do you still have some of these left at uh McGuanago?

SPEAKER_01 35:43

Here too?

SPEAKER_05 35:44

You got them here too? I still got some in my garage. It's way more fresh.

SPEAKER_03 35:51

Yeah. Way brighter, more short.

SPEAKER_05 35:53

Less so light on the palette. Yeah. What's the price on these on the shelf?

SPEAKER_01 35:58

120.

SPEAKER_05 35:59

120 for a 14-year-old MGP RAP.

SPEAKER_04 36:04

Yep. Yeah, the Ry's are very nice on that.

SPEAKER_03 36:06

Or you could spend 300 on a 10 to a 13 year whistle pig from 10 years ago.

SPEAKER_01 36:15

That came from Canada?

SPEAKER_05 36:18

Most of them.

SPEAKER_03 36:19

No, the early ones.

SPEAKER_05 36:23

In the secondary market, they're that cheap now?

SPEAKER_03 36:27

I don't know. I think only Zalman buys them. So that's a market of one.

SPEAKER_01 36:32

Yeah, there's no secondary on whistlepig, I think, except the first boss hog, probably. No. Yes. Which is like 12 grand. That's just the rarity of it. I don't think the quality of the liquid was that good.

SPEAKER_05 36:43

It was better then than it was then.

SPEAKER_01 36:45

Overrated. Wow. Save it? Save it. Well, in context, you have to. Save it. I can't refer back to this later on.

SPEAKER_05 36:57

Sure you can.

SPEAKER_01 36:59

Listen to episode 312 to understand our current conversations.

SPEAKER_05 37:05

Is it really 226? Alright, that's a lot. That's episodes. That's not just things I posted that I talk shit on. So probably more like 300.

SPEAKER_01 37:14

Wow. You do talk a lot of shit.

SPEAKER_05 37:16

I do talk a lot. Well, I talked more shit.

SPEAKER_01 37:18

That's one third, almost one-third shit.

SPEAKER_05 37:20

We talked way more shit back in the day.

SPEAKER_01 37:22

33.33% shit. Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 37:28

I was more accurate. Yeah, you were. You were way more exact.

SPEAKER_01 37:32

I could not keep that decimal going.

SPEAKER_05 37:35

Alright. We're going to close this episode because we're close to 30 minutes. Amon, do you have any questions? Anything you want to say in closing? Give me any questions.

SPEAKER_04 37:42

Did you learn anything? You don't have any. Tell us about your experience.

SPEAKER_01 37:48

So how long have you been doing this, Chad? Was this your dream ever since you were a wee little child?

SPEAKER_05 37:53

Where do you see yourself in five years? Let's see. That's what I get for giving you options. Do you have anything in closing? Anything you want to say?

SPEAKER_01 38:02

Um Smooth Amblers Liquid has come a very long way, and I think it is very promising. That barrel is fantastic. And uh their older stuff, again, thank you, Andrew. Excellent. Yep. Just beautiful.

SPEAKER_03 38:15

Do you want to hear my hot take? Go ahead, Wes. I thought this sample of their own distillate was better than the Drambler e bottle.

SPEAKER_05 38:23

And that's what I told Amon earlier. I was like, everything I tasted from Smooth Ambler MGP, I liked our pick better than that. I would tell you.

SPEAKER_04 38:31

I'm trying to get the pick. Yes. I would agree with you. I would I'm the same way.

SPEAKER_05 38:36

Alright. That's your your closing too?

SPEAKER_04 38:39

No, I got more than that. I'm kind of prophetic. I got a lot of things going on. No, I'm kidding. I just want to say I appreciate everybody listening. Uh numbers are going growing and stuff. I'm just very good. Very thankful. I'm happy to be here. Y'all be safe.

SPEAKER_02 38:51

I apologize in advance because I got the mic again, but thanks guys for having me. This was fun. And also, if you guys want to come here to Almonds, there's a lot of really nice barrel picks.

SPEAKER_03 39:04

Invite everyone here.

SPEAKER_02 39:08

No, I'm saying the things that we have the things that we've been tasting are all available here and they're really good. I am very confident that Parker has a lot of things. And also Mythical has a lot of good. And I've heard some I have heard some rumors that there's gonna be some new bourbon in the making through maybe some of our own creation. I don't know if that's out there yet. I have to get perm any of that. Okay. I just heard rumors.

SPEAKER_04 39:34

That's why Parker didn't have a mic.

SPEAKER_03 39:36

Please sign our MNDA before you listen to it.

SPEAKER_05 39:40

Okay. Until next time, enjoy your pores and enjoy your family.

SPEAKER_04 39:44

Be safe.