ChiTuckyBourbonBrothers
The “Chitucky Bourbon Brothers” podcast, hosted by Mike Nielsen and Tony Meyers, serves as a delightful exploration of bourbon and whiskey culture, offering insightful reviews and discussions about various bourbons and whiskeys. The hosts share their passion for sipping “brown water,” a colloquial term for bourbon and whiskey, and aim to blend music with their love for these beverages, creating an engaging auditory experience for listeners. The podcast not only provides detailed reviews of different bourbons and whiskeys but also promotes a relaxed atmosphere where enthusiasts can enjoy the nuances of their favorite drinks alongside music that complements the experience.
ChiTuckyBourbonBrothers
Episode 108 - James E. Pepper Barrel Proof
A fascinating exploration of whiskey craftsmanship, focusing on the storied James E Pepper distillery. Dive into the history of their renowned 1967 mash bill, a blend of four distinct components including corn, malted barley, and rye. Learn about the revival of this legendary brand as we chart the evolution of their bourbon from collaborations to their first original barrel proof whiskey release in 2023. With insights into the meticulous art of distillation, this segment is a must-listen for whiskey enthusiasts eager to discover the secrets behind a truly remarkable bourbon.
you're really picking them lately. That's another one, and where it takes my head every time I just looked it up came out in 93. That was right around the time where my friends were starting to listen to heavier stuff. And this is kind of wimpy, but the drums are good, the guy's voice is great. It's a great song. English company right. English guy James Laid the song is La English guy, james Laid. The song is Laid by the band James yeah, manchester All right Center of the country.
Speaker 1:Alt rock band Nice. They had like five, six albums. This was on their fifth album. Yeah, they didn't hit the States until this song came out.
Speaker 2:You know, when I went and did a study abroad in England there was a band called Pulp. I don't know if you've ever heard of them. And they had a couple songs that were really good over there and I actually liked them, I enjoyed them, but they never made it to the States and I'm sure this is one of those kind of bands. You know what I'm going to say. What's that?
Speaker 1:Play Pulp. No, let's talk about you studying abroad, really yeah my second semester junior year 1997.
Speaker 2:Second semester junior year. You went over there.
Speaker 2:I studied right outside of birmingham, england, in a town called wolverhampton, england, solo, not with any buddies, I had a buddy, one buddy, pat hagerty, the guy I um, okay, the guy I grew up with, I played soccer with and whatever. Anyway, he and I went over together. Uh, he studies business and I studied engineering, but that was the only place I would give us credit. It was a really good time, like I. Anyway, he and I went over together. He studies business and I studied engineering, but that was the only place that would give us credit. It was a really good time. I really enjoyed it.
Speaker 1:Why was that the only place that would give you credit?
Speaker 2:Back to Kentucky, you have to figure out which schools do a student exchange with your college.
Speaker 1:Got it, got it, got it, got it, got it.
Speaker 2:And engineering, I guess, is a tough one, because the way that the england.
Speaker 1:The way the university the uk does engineering is different they.
Speaker 2:They have like gap years. Yeah, it's a lot different. So anyway, yeah, it was really fun. I really enjoyed it. I recommend it to anybody's anybody listening to us. Hopefully their kids are probably close to college if they have the opportunity. It's really fun cool um I bought another car. I know I'm so happy. I can't see it. You haven't showed it to me yet though I've seen a picture.
Speaker 1:That's why I have to bring it up to you, because you haven't seen it, you haven't been in it.
Speaker 2:I know it's like one of my favorite cars ever.
Speaker 1:But I don't know. So it's an old Land Rover, the 110 or the 130?, the 130. Okay, that's the Ford, that's the biggest one, and I just took it to the shop and he's like yeah this was nine passenger. He's like this was built in.
Speaker 1:They're all built in Britain and delivered in Germany. Okay, so I can't work on it. He goes, it runs great, everything's great, it's been serviced really well, but you've got to go to a special place for that. And he goes and I can't tell. The VIN says 96, but you said it, I told him it was 99. So I think it's 99, but I think he also can't read the VIN, because VINs don't carry over, yeah kind of thing, and it's tank green.
Speaker 2:I can't wait to see it. I saw the pictures.
Speaker 1:I'm going to have little service things done on it, little bushings here and there and some gaskets and whatever. But no, it runs great and I'm super excited about diesel Manual transmission.
Speaker 2:Yeah, Five-speed, six-speed. What is it? Five-speed? Yes, oh, that's the old one where the reverse is under five. Five-speed, five-cylinder, five-cylinder, yeah, five cylinder, yeah, so is reverse under five, or it's reverse like on the other side is under five.
Speaker 1:Yeah, and it's a left driver. It's not.
Speaker 2:It's not a right driver so it's normal, like normal for us yeah, normal for the states.
Speaker 1:Yeah, oh, that's awesome, it's gonna be jealous it's gonna be. It's gonna be. Uh, nothing to be jealous about.
Speaker 2:We're gonna nine passenger man, that's a bus.
Speaker 1:I'd love it we get we're gonna get shy tucky on the side of it. We're going to get it wrapped.
Speaker 2:We're going to get it wrapped.
Speaker 1:So, yeah, I went to the Mecham auctions with my old man and that came across and it didn't sell. And I'm like, oh, that's pretty cool, why didn't it sell? And the guy wanted way too much money and I wasn't also willing to not give him way too much money. So we put a deal together and and shipped it home from.
Speaker 2:Florida. Did you tell your wife this time before it showed up?
Speaker 1:I had to check with a lot of people.
Speaker 2:I had to make sure wife, daughters For those of you that have listened to- this before Mike showed up with the Smokey and the Bandit Camaro or Trans Am or whatever the hell that is.
Speaker 1:I was sitting with my dad, though, and he was like I was like, yeah, I just bought that. And he's like, what is that? And I was like, oh, it's a land rover defender. And he's like, oh, okay, uh, don't those run like shit. And I was like, yeah, they could be a little finicky, so, anyway, that's the only person that was kind of against it or didn't know anything about it but, enough about cars studying abroad.
Speaker 1:Enough about james laid. Let's talk about some fucking whiskey. Let's do it. Tony brings this bottle in today. It was a cool bottle. I saw it. It looks cool.
Speaker 2:I'm like I don't usually buy shit, because it is pretty cool, looking, pretty simple.
Speaker 1:It's called james e pepper, a kentucky straight bourbon whiskey bottled at the historic james e pepper distillery in lexington, lexington, kentucky. So lots of good little things about it. So far this bottle. I think they come in at different proofs, tony said I did.
Speaker 2:I did a lot of research on it.
Speaker 1:It comes in at 106.4 proof. Do you know anything about the Mash Bill? I know it's like a $50 or $60 bottle and some people gave it good reviews, so that's why you bought it. But guys listeners going in, I don't know anything about this. I mean I've read a few things as I've sat down for the last five minutes, but man, I'm going in blind.
Speaker 2:So I saw the last podcast we did was those top things. So when you start reviewing different top lists, people always throw out there's all the top lists for different price points, right, and for some reason somebody had like top eight whiskeys under $50 or at $50. And this was on his list. And then I happened to be at the liquor store and saw it and the bottle looks like a decanter. It's pretty cool and I was like, well, screw it, let's get it, let's check it out. So in doing my research, the mash bill, what you asked about, is actually a mixture. It's a blend of four different things. So, first of all, the history of this place is crazy it's a blend of four different things.
Speaker 2:You can't say that, and finish that thought, all right. So first of all, the classic bourbon from James E Pepper from 1967. That was the year they closed the distillery, so their mash bowl was 80% corn 67, James Pepper closed.
Speaker 2:Yeah, it was 80% corn, 12% malted barley, which only leaves 8% for rye. So they took the old Mash Bill and then mixed it with three different blends. One was called raw rye, which is 51% corn, 45% rye, 4% of rye malt, rye malt 51% corn, 49% rye, four percent of rye malt, rye malt 51 corn, 49 raw raw rye malt.
Speaker 1:and another one called barley malt 51 corn 49 exactly that's why I told you there's a lot of shit in this stuff anyway, they blended four different things.
Speaker 2:They came up with this, and I'm I'm I'm expecting it to be decent, because I've read it on different people's lists.
Speaker 1:So this new brand opened? What year?
Speaker 2:They started distilling their own juice in 2017.
Speaker 1:Okay, so we're going to say this is their juice and this is six or seven years old.
Speaker 2:I was told that as I read that 2023 was the first year of their own juice. I was going to say who told you, I don't know.
Speaker 1:It wasn't Google. You're talking about juice. I was going to say who told you? I don't know, I'm like who's this other person? It wasn't Google, but it was a website. You're talking about whiskey. I want to meet him or her.
Speaker 2:No, I read that 2023's Barrel Proof was their first of their juice. Anything prior to 2023 was either MGP or Bardstown Lens of their stuff.
Speaker 1:Okay, good to know, good to know, good to know.
Speaker 2:Good to know. Good to know. A lot of information, sorry.
Speaker 1:Are we done? No, it's fine. Are we done? Statin, and we're gonna smell it and taste it. Five and a half years Juice.
Speaker 2:They say it's approximately Five and a half years With all the blends I'm gonna call it six. That's fair Cause we're in 25 and you said 2017, so yeah, but they started in 23, so I assume we're drinking the 2018 stuff, okay?
Speaker 1:That makes sense right.
Speaker 2:I think maybe kind of.
Speaker 1:Let's just I mean when I'm 60 bucks by the way, I got it for $59.99 on the shelf today $59.99 on the shelf today.
Speaker 2:I bought it.
Speaker 1:I just have it in my hand and I just got to get right into it. Our proof is 106.4. All of these proofs fall between 104 and 107 or 106 and change our buddy chris is gonna say that you just repeated yourself a lot, because I said the proof, I said the age, then you said the proof, then you said the age, he's gonna, he's gonna.
Speaker 2:I don't care chris, he's, he's out looking for a boiler cheers, cheers.
Speaker 1:For a second time. We all said cheers twice. That might be a first. That's because that was funny, okay. So one thing I looked up which I thought was interesting, because we talk about whiskey smelling like fruit a lot, and something I guess I kind of learned is that there are, of course, different types of fruit, but on the nose and the palate there are citrus fruits, which would be lemons, limes, oranges, grapefruits, that kind of stuff. Then there's stone fruits peaches, plums, nectarines, uh and then you have exotic fruits which would be like mango, and then um other fruits like berries and things like that. So, um, I'm on the nose, what do you? Um?
Speaker 1:it's vanilla-y and like oaky, away from fruit, but definitely that kind of stone fruit peachiness.
Speaker 2:Oh, peach Okay.
Speaker 1:Yeah, kind of peachy I had like a raisin and a peach is just like a sweet floral aroma is a peach.
Speaker 2:So all wrapped up in a peach is like multiple peach huh yeah, I don't not that I don't get peach, I'm just not. What do you get? I'm? Getting more raisin like a raise a bready raisin, okay, and then, um, and then brown sugar. This is like just a sweetness. It smells sweet, it's a little boozy a little bit. My I'd give it a mild alcohol. Yeah, it's fair.
Speaker 1:Okay, cheers, let's try it all right, don't put your fucking drink down okay, sweet from the beginning.
Speaker 2:Taste, oh, I like the finish.
Speaker 1:It's coming in strong, I like cinnamon throughout, like the tongue, the, the. I like that. You said raisin before, um, that's a note I don't usually get, but since you said it I'm gonna say yeah, box of raisins, um and uh, and I would say this is more on the palate kind of citrusy than it is. That um, that citrus fruit maybe like a little uh, almost like lemony, um, but I think that's because it's got this like astringent kind of uh and like cinnamon flavor, so it like a lemon kind of puckers. You uh is kind of what I'm getting yeah, I mean it, the, the finish.
Speaker 1:It doesn't have a big burn, it's a, it's a solid, long finish it's got like a mile it's a very good finish oaky rye spicy, yeah you can tell there's a lot of rye lasting long lasting finish um, did you not to uh um mash bills undisclosed, but there's definitely well itclosed but there's definitely a malted rye and there's so hard to do in there.
Speaker 2:Yeah, it's so hard when you're.
Speaker 1:I bet you get that cinnamon from that malted rye. I bet that kind of steps up the spiciness when, uh when, you taste it.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I, um, I mean, that makes sense. The chars, I think that they said the char levels of the uh, four different mixtures were all different too, so it's probably a one through four, depending on you know what you're at. So you're going to, I mean I, to me, this is this, is this is actually very decent. Yeah, it's got a good the smell does not get off that fish.
Speaker 1:I like sweet and I like spicy, and it's got both. I mean, I feel like that little pepperish rye that spice that you get at the end is just from the rye and it's getting high marks on its bottle.
Speaker 2:It is a good looking kind of shorter, short neck bottle. Yeah, it's kind of cool. Like you said, I didn't even realize that when you hold it up you see through it. It's like a decanter. It really is heavy. I remembered I realized it was really heavy.
Speaker 1:It's like thick glass or something it is. It is a good weight, All right, so you want to go first Sure, shareable, absolutely For somebody.
Speaker 2:This is something that I would like people that say they like different kinds of bourbon. This is one that I'd love to show and get their opinion of, because you know, when you have other people tell you that it's in their top, something you I feel like you have in the back of your head, that there's some type of influence and for me I think that, uh, I, I like it. I, I would like to try this, I like other people that like bourbon to try and get their opinion influence to me. I love the story. We didn't really get into the colonel james pepper story. I could tell you more about it. I think it's cool. It stinks that it didn't make it and had to close for 50 years, but I'm glad they're back. Price $60 for a good bottle of bourbon is not the end of the world. I mean you would always love it to be under 50. But you know such we live in.
Speaker 1:Back to who owns the newest owner of James E Pepper. You said it was some guy.
Speaker 2:It was a guy that reinvented it, that brought it all back in 2008.
Speaker 1:His name was Amir P, p-e-a-y, p-a, p-a, p, something like that. Anyway, I've heard that pronounced both ways.
Speaker 2:Yeah, anyway, he bought it in 2008. And I think he had a pretty good deal with MGP and he was trying to bring back the company. I'm sure he's got a ton of investors. I don't know where it's at right now. I didn't search it, but I will. I mean, I think it's called the James Pepper Distilling Company. I'm not sure who actually owns it.
Speaker 1:I wonder if I'm getting a little MGP influence here on the palate. I think that's the rye yeah.
Speaker 1:I think they took a lot of notes from MGP when they did their own mash bill and started making their own stuff. It should taste very different, but it's got the makings of it. Shareable for me, yes, but for the first time caller, first time buyer, first time drinker. Um, usually the cinnamon and the spice kind of scares people off because it kind of has that uh spice you get when you um do a shot, you know, or when you don't drink uh neat whiskeys a lot, so, um, shareable, but I don't drink neat whiskeys a lot, so shareable, but I don't know if it would go over that well in sharing it. So I'm a little in between on that.
Speaker 2:I'd like to get people's information. I agree with what you said there. I think you're sharing it to get feedback.
Speaker 1:I agree with that, yeah, and I like that a lot. Influence, they're brand new. Don't know this guy Not really hitting a lot of notes for me there. Um, and price super, uh, I would say in today's market super affordable I.
Speaker 2:I looked up this amir p while you were talking and he is still the owner operator of the james e pepper distillery in lexington, kentucky. He's a former bartender. He spent over a decade working to relaunch the iconic Pepper Whiskey man and rebuild the historic district. That sounds like Chad. What's it called Chad AI? For the way they put it all together with all those agencies.
Speaker 1:I thought you were going to say Chadahoochee. I was like Chad, what?
Speaker 2:No, that's a different song that takes us to a different place.
Speaker 1:It's a different song that takes us to a different place. It's a whole different place. I know I kind of was like oh, is he going to go there? We're going to talk about a little more music. Let's do it. Excuse me Rating I am at three and an eighth.
Speaker 2:Three and an eighth. All right, that's great. I was actually at a three square, so that makes a lot of sense to me. I think this could easily be a three and a three and a quarter drink. This is this is good stuff. I'm happy with that.
Speaker 1:That number I think a little uh, a little water in it or a cube not only, uh, cooling it down, but kind of watering it down might take some of that spice away and it could be a really good drinker.
Speaker 2:but I think that a lot of MGP products you know the James E Pepper was a colonel in Commonwealth of Kentucky.
Speaker 1:Sounds right.
Speaker 2:One of the things he did is he was a big advocate for the Bottle and Bond Act of 1897. My man, he was actually the first person to sign and seal a bottle to designate its quality and that's something that's a trait that like, if you looked up that bottle in bond act, that was something back in 1897 that they did on every good bottle.
Speaker 1:so he was actually started. It's actually really cool and a little interesting. I was just tasting uh whiskeys in um ohio with a buddy um in uh. Where was I in? Where was I, tony? Where was I in Ohio?
Speaker 2:You were in Columbus.
Speaker 1:And they were saying the distillery there, the owner, was in Singapore and they were talking about selling American whiskey, which is a really big deal. Just like Scotch whiskey comes over to us, american whiskey goes international and that places like India, because humongous population, but also, and not as much, singapore, but they're willing to kind of accept a lower level of juice and do certain additives. But also and this is going along with the bottled and bond, and like when americans became like legit with what is actually in the bottle, they in india like more or less, will lie on the label.
Speaker 1:oh, that's one example was sometimes they bring scotch in and they call it an indian scotch they water it down even though it's from scotland? No, because people in india want the. They want it to be in their stuff, they want it to be indian juice, so they will. They'll buy more of it as opposed to being like an import from scotland. I'm like, wow, that's like it's completely opposite of what we're doing here.
Speaker 2:It's like everything is very well, everybody knows where everything comes from, and like it's it's been researched and can and checked, and like everything is has to be very accurate or yeah or it's not.
Speaker 1:I only bring it up because it had it kind of blew my mind. I was like wow, that's like you know, rolling black, rolling back the clock and the calendar, uh, 100 years, or whatever. Did you know that?
Speaker 2:I'm a colonel. I did. This guy was maybe a real colonel. I'm an honorary colonel. The Commonwealth no state Commonwealth of Kentucky.
Speaker 1:What does an honorary colonel mean? Do you see the tone of my voice?
Speaker 2:You just don't care.
Speaker 1:I totally care. That's why I asked. I feel like it's kind of like one of those.
Speaker 2:It's just a philanthropy scenario. It's called the Honorable Order of Kentucky Colonels. It's a voluntary philanthropic organization that you have to be. Did you pay for it? No, but you have to be brought up in front of the Kentucky state legislation.
Speaker 1:Oh, so it's got some legitimacy.
Speaker 2:All right, tony, you've got to be brought up in front of the state legislation and you've got to have two state representatives sign off in the state of Kentucky to say that you're okay and then you can become an honorary clerk. You do donate money for whatever philanthropy they're going.
Speaker 1:Cheers to that, Colonel.
Speaker 2:But everything they do has a lot to do with the flag, so it's pretty solid.
Speaker 1:I'm just rolling right into the nickname Listen, tune in for future podcasts where it'll be Mike and the Colonel.
Speaker 2:I'm actually changing my host name on our podcast to Colonel Tony Myers.
Speaker 1:Oh my gosh, oh man, All right, what are we going out on?
Speaker 2:We started with some James for James Pepper and we're going to go out with some Red Hot Chili Peppers. Why?
Speaker 1:not Always a theme here with this guy.
Speaker 2:We're trying, I'm trying. Come on, colonel.
Speaker 1:Where's that next song? Well, it's under it's coming.
Speaker 2:We're just going to start up a little bit of a I don't know. I've always Chili Peppers fan. I'm not sure about you Big time, big time, mr Anthony Kiedis.
Speaker 1:So I would say we tasted a an average to above average whiskey today, something that's kind of new to the market and new to us Definitely new to me, as about 15 minutes ago.
Speaker 1:So get out If you like what we talked about. James E Pepper Won't break the bank. Get yourself some. I think it needs a little ice cube to kind of mellow it down a little bit. But Mike and Tony Chi-Tucky, bourbon Brothers, we take care of the whiskey so you can focus on with whom you share it. I haven't screwed that up in a while. I know. Focus on with whom you share it.
Speaker 1:I haven't screwed that up in a while, thanks for taking a listen to us and James and Red Hot Chili Peppers, we're all here.
Speaker 2:We're all here together. We're all here together. One big room, cheers, guys. See ya, take it on. Take it on the other side. Take it on. Take it on how long? How long will I slide, separate my side?
