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 118 - Booker's 2025 -1 "Barry Batch"
Bourbon and pop music collide in this spirited exploration of Booker's Barry's Batch, where Mike and Tony find common ground as unlikely Megan Maroney concert-goers before diving into serious whiskey territory.
Named after former Jim Beam Chairman and CEO Berry Bearish, who led the company for over 40 years before his passing in 2024, this limited release bourbon comes "uncut and unfiltered" at a robust 125.7 proof. The guys break down what makes this particular expression worthy of its namesake while questioning whether the quarterly Booker's releases truly offer something different with each iteration.
With its signature mash bill of 77% corn, 13% rye, and 10% barley, Barry's Batch delivers the classic Beam profile – complete with notes of vanilla, caramel, and that distinctive "Beam peanut" finish that enthusiasts chase. Mike and Tony engage in a thoughtful debate about whether the subtle differences between releases justify the hunt for allocated bourbon, especially at the $100 price point.
The tasting reveals a powerful Kentucky hug – that characteristic warmth that spreads from mid-palate down through your body, bringing cinnamon spice alongside sweet butterscotch notes that linger long after each sip. While both hosts appreciate the complexity, they question whether Booker's limited release strategy creates artificial scarcity or genuinely preserves quality.
Whether you're a dedicated Beam fan or simply curious about premium bourbon expressions, this episode offers candid insights into the world of allocated whiskey. The final verdict? Worth trying if you appreciate high-proof, spicy bourbon with that signature Beam profile – but maybe sample it at a bar before committing to the full bottle price.
I like that slide, put a hole in my heart, watched it bleed. You said that we were better off as strangers.
Speaker 2:I was barely alive at six feet. Couple of bourbon brothers over here Just jamming to Kid Rock.
Speaker 1:Dorking out to a little Megan Maroney? Why, might you ask? Because we both took our daughters to her concert in Milwaukee.
Speaker 2:And it was so much better than I thought it would be.
Speaker 1:I called Tony the next day. I'm like I'm a big fan. I was like that was a great show. She's fucking great and she is.
Speaker 2:Megan Maroney Unbelievable. She writes almost all her own stuff too. Isn't that crazy?
Speaker 1:Graduated college in 2020. So that makes her probably in like the 25 26 range years old and um born in 97, so I you are almost right on she'll be 27.
Speaker 2:She'll be 28 in october and she's just singing to.
Speaker 1:Uh why we joke that we're like the biggest fans? Uh well, we're not joking that we're fans, but it's kind of a joke to us because when we're at the show it's like nine dads and four thousand young girls kids just loving on megan maroney.
Speaker 2:So you kind of feel like it was the only, like a weirdo being there, but we just took our daughter, so it was the only concert I've ever been to that the bartenders remembered my order.
Speaker 1:Yeah, I could walk up there and they're like yeah, you're the makers guy, right also only concert I've ever been to where you almost can't hear her coming out of the speakers, because all, every kid, every girl, with their high pitch young voices, knows every single fucking word, yeah I'm like, oh my god. I'm like looking left and right and I'm like these girls are including my daughter, are fucking into this.
Speaker 2:They know it yeah, so that that made for so much more I told my older son when I got home I was dry called him when we were driving home and I'm like, dude, you should, you and your buddy should go to that show. It's like fishing. It'd be like shooting fish in a barrel.
Speaker 1:I was like I think that's where you're going fishing barrel shot. Talking brother is mike and tony talking about megan maroney listening to some tunes some country tunes at that and, uh, drinking some whiskey. And today is a jim beam product. It is another high-end products. It comes in a really nice wooden box and on the front of the plastic of the wooden box it says Booker's, uncut and unfiltered. What does that actually mean? Who gives a shit? Uncut, unfiltered. They're just pouring it from the barrel to the bottle and not putting it through anything. But it is a small batch bourbon collection.
Speaker 1:I was kind of kidding, kind of not. If you want to look up uncut and unfiltered, go right ahead. I was kind of kidding, kind of not. If you want to look up uncut and unfiltered, go right ahead. I'm just not going to get into that, and I don't think Tony is either. But it is a small batch bourbon put out by Jim Beam. It is called Booker's. They put out a lot of these. They're always pretty high proof. They're a pretty similar mash bill. They're usually between late six years old, almost seven, and sometimes upwards to eight.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I think some of the early ones got to 10 years, but almost all of them are six to eight.
Speaker 1:You nailed it I have never been like a huge fan, but these have quite, quite, quite the following and, uh, I think we should get into it because beam puts out really good products. Specifically, this one is then I'll let you talk, tony, sorry, that's fine. Is the 2025 on the label? It'll say 2025-01. It'll say 125.7 proof. It'll say seven years, two months and four days old.
Speaker 2:Four, days four days.
Speaker 1:Wow. Then there's something inside the box that'll get into how much came from the fifth floor of the warehouse and which rack and all this other stuff. So they're very, very specific about what you're drinking. Does that make it good? I don't know. We'll get there. And the last piece is that it's 77% corn, 13% rye and 10% barley. I'm already on to my second, so I can't do my math and it comes in MSRP about $100.
Speaker 2:Yeah, $99.99 is MSRP. $77.1310 is the classic Beam mash bill. They used four different productions from five different warehouses to mix this together, but all of it is the same $77.1310. I don't really care where it comes. Some people say different parts of warehouses make bourbon better. Because of the, the freeze and thaw process and the heat process, um is much more prevalent on the higher floors than they are on the lower floors.
Speaker 1:So are you with me? You kind of don't care about that Are we just like bourbon jaded, and we've heard that a million times, or do you?
Speaker 2:or I think there's honey holes at all these places and that the good guys know right where those spots are. I'm not sure they're putting that in this mix. If they're mixing it with five, I think if there's a true honey hole, they're keeping it for a single barrel somewhere okay, so just shut down the podcast.
Speaker 1:If you're really into uncut and unfiltered, if you're really into all these warehouses, if you're really into all that detail, I just really because they put a lot of these out, I just really want to like does it smell and taste good, you know right, like, well, I mean, and is it worth 100 bucks?
Speaker 2:uncut really just means that it's it's bottled at the same proof that it's coming out of the barrel. That's really all that means. That means that they're not, they're not diluting it. Okay, all right, that's that. That's that simple. So that means that you know bourbon goes in at a high proof, it gets hotter Proof, goes up. There it is. When it comes out, we're at one 25.
Speaker 1:I know all that. I'm just saying it's so simple that why do you even have to put it on the box?
Speaker 2:I don't care that it's. You know, it's like a big thing. It's all over all these stupid bottles.
Speaker 1:Well, they got to say something. They got to tell, as they say, they got to tell a story. All right, keep going. Sorry, sorry, that's what I got.
Speaker 2:You got me off track now, but I will tell you that, the little plastic sleeve that slides out of the front. You got to be careful.
Speaker 1:It's kind of like a guillotine's batch and barry a very bearish was the former uh jim beam, chairman and ceo, who led the company for over 40 years and he passed away last year, in 2024, so they named it um, after him. After him, yeah, and uh.
Speaker 1:They say that this is a very great expression, or typical, I should say, expression, of bookers, because beam products are known to have their peanut undertone and some go as far as like peanut butter fudge and graham cracker and a lot of different things, but they're like and it's always pretty spicy, which we'll get into as well, but they just say like, hey, barry was one of the best, this is one of, this is also one of the best, but it's also just like such a standard bookers and he was around so long making him, you know, in my words, uh, quite the standard. So, long story short, long story longer. I should say barry's batch is the 2025 bottle that's cool.
Speaker 2:I mean we've we've done another one of these. We did that, we did that bottle, I don't know, a few years back. It was like a 21 called the donahoe, and then we pulled it out here so we could taste it. Because, you know, I I think I agree with you. When we were, when we were sitting here at BS and waiting for Mike's computer to reboot here, he did some type of a damn upgrade right before we started. We're taking a couple sips and Mike goes. I think a lot of these taste the same or very, very similar, and we have a few different bottles here. So we pulled a couple of them out and they're different, but they're not much different. I agree with you.
Speaker 1:They're all between six and eight years, which doesn't give them much difference. They're always usually down to the decimal point of 125 proof, so they're always the same mash bill right.
Speaker 1:Always, and it just makes for something that is very similar. But it also makes for something, if you love this the cinnamon, the spice, the caramel and, as we said before, like the beam peanut, uh, you, probably. You know it's probably by far your favorite on the shelf. You know you're paying up for it because it's better but also more expensive than other beam products. It's probably one of their most expensive, other than the small, uh sorry, the little book, which I think is $125.
Speaker 2:I think this is their second most expensive. I mean, I know Baker's is part of their portfolio and the Baker's 7 isn't that expensive, but I think they have some special versions of that. Don't they have like a Baker's 13 and a Baker's something like that that have come out? And I know they also bought Hardin Creek and Hardin Creek has some expensive versions.
Speaker 1:So I'm throughout now going on 10 minutes into a podcast. It sounds like I'm already down on this. I'm just to me. I've had it a bunch of times. I've never. I don't think really Tony has bought it a bunch. Tony probably has a dozen bottles of it for all I know. But somewhere in that number and every time I see it I'm like Ben, they're done that Like where Elijah Craig or Larceny or certain Heaven Hill brands I feel like year over year, are like oh, this is so different, so fun. So that's just me. But if you absolutely really love Booker's or love it year, over year, month after month, that's great.
Speaker 1:Or if you're a Beam guy, this is like your highest star.
Speaker 2:Well, there's four a year. Right Booker's does four a year. Elijah Craig and Larceny does three a year. Heaven right Booker's does four a year. Elijah Craig and Larceny does three a year. Heaven Hill does two a year with their old fits. So these are all bourbons that come out multiple times a year, very allocated, because there's only so many that they do. They do it on purpose. They could do more. They do it on purpose to keep the demand high and to keep the price high, but really what they're going after is their core audience. They want to keep their core audience happy, and this is just different variations of their core audience.
Speaker 2:Smart. I mean I feel like you know it's like a business class. I mean we're all trying to keep our core people satisfied and also keep figuring out how to grab more profit share.
Speaker 1:I just couldn't agree with you more. But I just, every time I see it, I'm like the box is the same, the plastic is the same, but the little label on it is a little different color. Sometimes the top on it it's a different color. Sometimes, obviously there are some differences to it, but then every time you open it up it's the same. So I like I want to buy it over and over, but I'm like, like you're not, you're not wowing me, but as I feel like you're saying that's exactly what the not me people want, like it's consistent.
Speaker 1:It. Yes, the same and consistent are the same thing and I love that about it. But it tweaks a little bit and that makes me. You know, when I'm in my recliner at my home in kentucky on a friday night and I tip it back, I'm like you know, it's just a little bit different. It's not as good as the last one, or it's better than the last one, and it is it really though?
Speaker 2:yeah, and it warrants conversation, and then you're having fun. I mean, we pulled out, we pulled out that other one from 2021, so it's four years older and it it's. It smells a little different not much, but it smells a little different. But it's definitely not as spice forward and we'll get into that when we get into the bottle. But I would tell you that all of these have super similar characteristics, but they're made from the same mash, nashville, in the same warehouse by the same master distiller. They should be relatively the same.
Speaker 1:Yeah, ish, ish, yeah, they got it. They're they're not really changing much, they're changing little things, and little changes make for little differences.
Speaker 2:They do Sometimes a little difference will make it the best bourbon you've ever had to. So you never know, you never try had to, so you never know. You keep trying them because maybe one of these little changes that they do all of a sudden you're like holy shit, where'd that come from?
Speaker 1:And then you got a little book. Maybe someone that works at Beam will listen to this and say, yeah, but joke's on you guys, because we sell out of it. We make X thousands of cases. This isn't a business.
Speaker 2:This isn't a bad business model. I'm not saying that, hey, you're stupid for doing what you're doing. I'm just saying I wish that it had a little more variation in their taste. And maybe some of it has to do with the uncut and unfiltered, because they're not watering it down at all, so they're not really changing the flavor.
Speaker 1:It's kind of what it is. And you did say and this is not a correction to you, but we did try the Donahoe, which was from 2021. And Tony said the the words it's four years older. That doesn't mean this is seven years old in two months. It doesn't mean that other one is 11 years old, because and people ask me this from time to time whiskey, unlike wine, does not change does not continue to age in the glass, in the bottle, once it's out of the barrel, done, stop, stop.
Speaker 1:So the 2021, good or bad or otherwise or different is just four years older of a release, but they're both. That one was, it was a six year.
Speaker 2:Actually, I think it was a six year release. I have to look it up. Six year 11 months.
Speaker 1:So you know a difference of three months from this. So, again, not big changes, but let's yeah, let's taste it.
Speaker 2:Shut our taste, it shut our mouths yeah, yeah, don't, don't grab the wrong one, that's the wrong one cheers, all right, cheers here. We almost didn't cheers me. No, I was just you're slipping, you're fucking slipping. Wow, man, somebody's had a good day, somebody's got a case of the mondays, it's not, I know. I just like saying that. I said that the other day. My kids looked at me like I was stupid.
Speaker 1:They've never even heard it before I was talking to my niece and nephew and I said, hey, a bunch of people just died hulk hogan died, ozzy osbourne died and theo huxtable, as I will call him, died and they were like, who's that? And I go oh yeah, I go the cosby show. They go, what's that? I go, bill cosby. And they had already walked out of the room. I was like, wait a minute, we're old. Oh no, this is the first time I'm gonna just not the first time I'm gonna feel old, but you know that's the first time one I wasn't expecting.
Speaker 2:All right, you getting that peanut no, not on this part, maybe a little I. I would say it's definitely sweet, uh, um, I'm a. I got a little honey, ish, definitely tons of vanilla. What do you got? I'm not really getting peanut, but there's something in there.
Speaker 1:We should talk at some point the difference between caramel and vanilla, because they say that beam is more of a standard caramel. I agree with you. Do you get vanilla or caramel? And, listener, do you know the difference? I feel like it's just they're both pretty sweet, but they have different.
Speaker 2:I feel like I get caramel. Yeah, I think caramel's got a slightly different characteristic. Vanilla reminds me. Yeah.
Speaker 1:Oaky, lots of wood, yeah and um, and a spicy like a, like a cinnamon, a cinnamon spice cheers.
Speaker 2:Let's taste it yeah, cheers, cheers, cheers. You know what that is? It gets a butterscotch on the nose.
Speaker 1:Maybe that's kind of what's right in between. Maybe that's. I don't know, Put a caramel a butterscotch and a vanilla right next to each other.
Speaker 2:Maybe it's kind of a butterscotch, I don't know, it's something. You're right, there's something there. If you put a caramel and some vanilla together do you get a butterscotch?
Speaker 1:I butterscotch, I don't think so. I don't think so, but I don't know. I think butterscotch is the sweetest, but to each their own.
Speaker 2:Hmm well, it's got spice you get a graham cracker a little bit, I get a little peanut on the, on the, on the finish, on like on the underside of this yeah it.
Speaker 1:It took, I will be honest, which I always am. It took reading about peanut and reading about jim beam a little bit before the podcast to realize that's what that is like. There's we, I always say, mgp has like a nuttiness but nutty and peanut same same but different. Um, but yeah it's. It's. Has like almost like a straight up shelled ballpark peanut to it, which is like a cola.
Speaker 2:You know that cola you're. A couple podcasts ago you kept getting out of something. I remember what we were sipping and, um, I feel like there's a cola to this I do remember that, but I'm not getting a cola.
Speaker 1:You're not getting this. Maybe it's a different, I don't know. I'm getting a cola, but lingering, lingering kentucky hug spice. It hits about mid palate and then goes all the way down to your toes and it's literally spicy it's really sweet.
Speaker 2:It just burns. It's got that spice of it's attacking the top of your mouth all the way down the back of your throat. It's just attacking it, but it's got a sweetness like after it gets it. Now you got like a sweet coming out of it. Does beam do anything?
Speaker 1:older little books older I think well, they, yeah, but I think I don't know if that's all their stuff. I think they source a, source a lot. Excuse me for the burp. Yeah, I think they do. I think you're right. I do, because you read the little book notes and it's like canadian whiskey and sometimes they even put I don't know if they put a scotch in there, but they put.
Speaker 2:I don't think they do a scotch, but they definitely blend things together. You know they're part of knob, but knobs kind of like. They purchase knob knobs a different mash bill. So I don't. I wouldn't, because I know the knob stuff gets significantly older, but it's different. It's not beam like this is beam juice. That makes.
Speaker 1:I'd probably say I like, I'd like more just from what I've had. The standard. Buy a handle of it at Costco for $65 of Knob 9-year. You want a daily drinker. It's awesome.
Speaker 2:My issue with some of the Knobs is you've got to be careful because you've got to make sure you get the bonded, because if you get the 120, it'll burn you up because it's not that old and it'll burn you up. That's not that old, and it'll burn you up, like that's one thing I really like about their 12 year, because the 12 years 100 bonded and it's really solid. But that's a different. We did that podcast like one of our first ones.
Speaker 1:So the nutty, the spicy's why it's the Barry's batch? Because it's it's just totally consistent across all beam profiles, and that this is just. You know, barry's batch is no exception, so that makes sense.
Speaker 2:I mean, I don't, I don't know. I think you get into some of these, these bourbons where you have, you know, four times a year and everybody's trying to pick something different out. I think they're just very similar, they're gonna have very small nuances and, and this one, you're either gonna like it or you're not like when we can. When we drank the donahoe the one that we did from 2021 it it was very similar but it had a completely different finish here's what I would say I just came up with an idea let's do it.
Speaker 1:An idea is oh, if you.
Speaker 1:He's moving chair, he's moving cups around buy a bookers but buy it on sale any year, anyone. And why buy it on sale? Because they're all the same. So I feel like you're you're getting something that's like you know, uncode, unfiltered, small batch, that kind of thing, and it is going to be different. But I feel like you're probably going to think you're either going to like it or not and it won't matter. So why not get a deal? It's a hundred dollar bottle and some liquor stores got on the shelf for 75. You're like cool 25 discount. Boom, I'm gonna try what mike and tony told me to try I like your thought process there, but this sells out every time.
Speaker 2:You're not getting this on sale, it's not sitting around. When's the last time you walked into a liquor store and found something allocated Just hanging out on the shelf. Fuck, I hate when you're right. I'm just telling you right now.
Speaker 1:And I heard the butt coming and I'm like, oh, he's going to have a butt. I bet it's not gonna sit there. You don't actually people usually pay up for these.
Speaker 2:Actually, if you found this 75, you could probably double your money.
Speaker 1:You probably sell them for 150 I think it's more like, you know, 25 markup or whatever. But yeah, the uh, you're right okay.
Speaker 2:so I mean, yes, I think you're right. I think, honestly, if you really like beam products, what Mike was saying is go to a, go to a, a restaurant, pub, bar that has these and maybe try one there before you spend a hundred bucks, cause you could probably get a nice two ounce pour for 20 bucks Shareable. That was a big breath in the net right into it. I even have a breath guard on here.
Speaker 1:Shareable Sure Influence beams Fucking awesome. And the net right into it. I even have a breath guard on here. Look at shareable sure influence beams fucking awesome 200 something years old or whatever 230 I think, and um price. Well, I want it to be 75 bucks. I want you know, I think they're just really over their skis in. Uh, you know how good this is and, um, I wish it changed more from time to time. What do you think Shareable?
Speaker 2:Yes, Influence, Um influence to me. I mean, beam is one of the one of the classics I I don't really follow a lot of the beam beam brands. I would as close as I do some of the others. They don't really have as many, except for some of the ones they've purchased lately. Price to me is what these are. Anything allocated is this price point? I actually looked it up the 2021 was $90. So it's only $10 more. I mean, that's way less than what a lot of these other people are marking up. I actually was at the liquor store today and I bought a bottle of the Eagle Rare 10 year regular. That's up to $49.99 retail, now $50.
Speaker 1:For what? For Eagle Rare, did you just catch me? I stopped listening to you. I saw that.
Speaker 2:Your eyes even got bigger again. It's like you were thinking of something else, or you got an email, or something came in.
Speaker 1:No, I email or something. No, I got a little sleepy and, oh thanks, I guess that's not a good sign, for people are gonna think this is an entertaining podcast. Okay, sorry about that. Um, two and a half, I'm going. Two and a half, that's really low. Uh, I'm trying to work on my scoring because I feel like we go above average to high average too often we were and we were at a uh an event what's his name?
Speaker 2:call him out we were at an event and a friend of mine, gordon gordon, yeah, and he was uh, he was like wait a minute, you're the guy that does the podcast with tony he goes.
Speaker 1:I'm a listener.
Speaker 2:I was like you, just melted my heart he's like we'd love for you to really know what you think. A lot of your numbers are too close. And I said what do you mean? And he said I want to know yes or no?
Speaker 1:Should I buy it or not? So I'm actually breaking his rule where I'm right in the middle.
Speaker 2:So I'm not really.
Speaker 1:But I just want to say that buy this if you like what we described and or you like Beam products. But don't say I didn't warn you that it burns you, it's hot. And again, if you could find a retail deal, which tony said you can't, uh, but if you can, I think they all taste very, very similar. So, whether you buy the 25, the, the 24 or the 23 or whatever, uh, all pretty similar. So, uh, two and a half two and a half.
Speaker 2:I was going to go higher than that, but I understand where you're coming with this. To me, this is, uh, I think this particular version is a little spicier than I would like, so I'm giving it a two and three quarter, but, um, I know exactly what you're saying and this is definitely, um, yeah, something that I would say If you like Beam products, if you're chasing these things, you should chase them. If you see one on the shelf and you just want to try one and it's retail, grab it. But I wouldn't go chase this around, I wouldn't be hunting for this.
Speaker 1:What I would chase for are Megan Maroney tickets. Are we going out to Megan too?
Speaker 2:Yeah, we are. We're going to go out to the one that you like, though it's a little slow. I told you we couldn't start it, but we're going to start it up here just because I think this is one of our first ones. I think this is one of the ones that got her going.
Speaker 1:Did I miss anything Because I dozed off there for a second during my nap? Did we cover everything? We're at 24 minutes.
Speaker 2:Are we good? I think so. I think you just, you just dozed.
Speaker 1:I don't think you really dozed what's the song called tennessee orange, tennessee orange?
Speaker 2:this is about is that a good school?
Speaker 1:tennessee a good school? Yeah, it is, it is. She went to georgia, though we already talk about that. She went to Georgia. Yes, yeah, she's a bulldog. What's the Tennessee?
Speaker 2:mascot Rocky Top. That's a song. I don't know what that is. No, I have no idea what Tennessee mascot is.
Speaker 1:Volunteer.
Speaker 2:What's a volunteer? I don't know what a volunteer is.
Speaker 1:That's what you do when you want to go give something away Hold on, pull your car over, rewind 10 seconds and catch tony not knowing something about sports and he says rocky top.
Speaker 2:Oh, my day, my week, my month is complete, my cup I don't know over that was if they have a great, but they don't have a mascot, a volunteer mascot yeah, it's a guy with like a sword dude it's, I don't.
Speaker 1:He's volunteering for the war of the army is what I thought a volunteer was. Now, I'm talking out of my ass, but that's better than calling him the Rocky Tops. Alright, mike and Tony Shotucky Bird, I went to Kentucky.
Speaker 2:We don't really like the orange. There's a reason they're orange.
Speaker 1:They're inmates, yeah, but you play them a ton, probably right, oh yeah, probably right, oh yeah. So you should know a volunteer. Oh, we take care of the whiskey so you can focus on with whom you share it. Mike and Tony Megan Maroney, that rhymes. Just realize that it's pretty easy rhyme. So I should have realized it before. Let's do this one for the Tennessee volunteers. Peace out, thanks, guys.
