Distilled Bourbon Podcast
Distilled: The Bourbon Podcast discovers all that America's spirit has to offer from trails to distilleries and everything in between. Co-hosts Brent Bridges, Chuck Stinnett, Aaron Nelson and Brian McDaniel bring unique perspectives to this popular topic. Brian is an Army veteran and owner of the Beverage Barn liquor stores. He knows how to find those rare unicorn bottles. Chuck is a member of the Kentucky Journalism Hall of Fame and is best described as a walking encyclopedia. Chuck and his wife Donna are experts in many things including maneuvering the Bourbon Trail(s). Aaron brings his knowledge of whiskey and bar tending skills to the team to make us look good. Brent...well he owns a few microphones and loves bourbon.
Distilled Bourbon Podcast
E47. Why Ryes are Taking the World by Storm
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Ryes are gaining in popularity among whiskey drinkers. We discuss this trend as we try four unique offerings. Which ones did we love and which ones left us looking for more?
#kentuckypeerless #catchersrye #widowjane #caseyjones
https://kentuckypeerless.com/
https://twojames.com/
https://widowjane.com/
https://www.caseyjonesdistillery.com/
Welcome to Distilled the Bourbon podcast , where we drink bourbon. Or in this case, Ryan , talk about it. I'm Brent . I'm here with my co-host, Brian , Chuck and Aaron . Welcome back to the Turret guys.
Speaker 2Always good to be here. Glad to be back .
Speaker 3Love
Speaker 1Being here. Doing something a little different. Today we're going down the Rye Road.
Speaker 2So I think Rye's really had a resurgence in the last, certainly five years, maybe 10 years. Uh, I , I, I'm not so sure that Rye didn't precede bourbon as an American whiskey. It
Speaker 3Absolutely did. Um, it was first distilled in the 1750s , uh, and, and it came from , um, the forefathers coming over from Europe. Rye was actually used first in the 18th century in Scotland as one of their early grains to make scotch. So those people were used to drinking rye. And it grew really, really well in Eastern Middle Eastern .
Speaker 1And you don't have to impress us anymore. You're part of the team. Okay . You're on board . So he's still selling himself , but thank you for that history. There is a cool , a
Speaker 3Cool fact I found, though, in 1808 in Allegheny, Pennsylvania, they sold half a barrel of whiskey or half a barrel of rye per man, woman and child in the community, <laugh> . Wow . So they were, I like
Speaker 1It . It was huge.
Speaker 2You know , I think both Maryland and and Pennsylvania were the big rye , uh, distilling places. Yes. You probably can, can , uh, grow rye in those slightly cooler states better than you can in, in Kentucky. And corn was probably more appropriate for Kentucky.
Speaker 3Yes. And the flavor profile's just completely different too . Yeah . It's a lot more
Speaker 4Spicy. And I'm just excited for this episode. 'cause I don't think we've ever done a rye episode. Just
Speaker 1Yeah , we did strictly . Yeah . It's called Three Three Blind Rise . You were there. Oh,
Speaker 4We did. Yeah.
Speaker 2Yeah . He just
Speaker 3Doesn't remember it .
Speaker 1It's been a while .
Speaker 4Yeah. That's okay. <laugh> . Um , but I know that as you guys are probably aware, Chuck and Brent , uh, they're not , uh, really rye guys. Oh , I am. You know, and I , I initially wasn't, I , this is a lot more spicier than a bourbon. Yeah . And, you know, so I'm curious to see what , how these stand out today. Now ,
Speaker 2See , I I , I have to disagree. I, I am not, not a rye guy. I , I certainly am a bourbon guy. Uh, but I've become much more of a rye guy of , of late , I, I did have some choices on the shelf to , to choose from. And I , I don't think you can make a blanket statement. I've, I've had some rice that were sweeter than a lot of bourbons I've had. I think you just gotta judge by the, by the bottle and see what you got.
Speaker 1Yeah. And you know what I find interesting? I think it was Corky Taylor that told us that as he gets older, he and his friends tend to go more to the rye side and less to the bourbon side.
Speaker 2I , I definitely have friends who will just raise their hand and say, I'm a R guy, and Brian's one of 'em for sure. Yeah . Yeah.
Speaker 4I think it's just, 'cause you know, bourbon especially , uh, weed bourbon is so sweet. Mm-Hmm . <affirmative> to me. And so is like , uh, Sherry cask finish is very sweet. Uh, so rye is just exceptional for
Speaker 2Yes . We , we still remember the, the rabbit hole episode with
Speaker 1The Yes . <laugh>.
Speaker 4Don't remind me of that, Chuck.
Speaker 2Just two , two sweets.
Speaker 1Well , uh, so we
Speaker 2Have four
Speaker 1Here today, and , uh, Brian, the first one that you brought is the Casey Jones, one of my favorites, I think per dollar. It's one of the best ones out there. We always talk about Casey Jones, and you guys don't believe us that we're not advertising for them, but we just really like their juice particularly. And we love the people down there. Uh, but this is a great one to start with. It's , uh, it's fair It was released this year sometime. It was in the summer, maybe early
Speaker 3Early or late spring. Early, early summer. Yeah .
Speaker 4Yeah. And for 50 bucks, you just can't beat this. No , you can't . No . You know, I've enjoyed this on several different occasions. Uh, and riot's typically higher , higher price , uh, than, than bourbon. Uh, so it's a great value.
Speaker 2I think the rye grain is more expensive. More expensive relative to corn. It's a sweet nose. It's got a sweet ,
Speaker 1It's , it's got a good nose. And man, it falls up with a great taste.
Speaker 3I just absolutely love nosing rye. You can, you always, it's, it's just completely different than a bourbon.
Speaker 1You know, sometimes I don't get a lot off the nose from Mariah , and then sometimes like this one Mm-Hmm . <affirmative> it just smells amazing. I guess the same thing goes for bourbon. I don't
Speaker 2Know, I don't know if you guys do this as well, but when I'm tasting neat , uh, I actually, I think I've learned this at , at a distillery. Uh, I'll take just a tiny little taste and running through my mouth a little bit and just to kind of wake the mouth up and, and the mouth said , oh, we're we're , are we on? Yeah .
Speaker 1<laugh> <laugh> ,
Speaker 2Are we on the clock? Right. And, and then not, you know, seriously taste until the , the second taste.
Speaker 3Um, I had an opportunity to do a tasting with Freddie Johnson and Oh , nice. Um, he walked us through not to, to drink it at all, just let it touch your lips. Because when that whiskey touches your lips, automatically, you Mm-Hmm . <affirmative> you lick your lips. And so it allows you to taste what the whiskey's gonna taste like before having the, the burn and, and all that. So he , he was saying for people who may not, like, maybe somebody says, I'm not a eye guy. Well, here, just, just put it on your, on your lip and see what it tastes like. He
Speaker 2Leads a very deliberate , uh, tasting. And, and he is real big about , uh, nosing, not from both nostrils, but from the left. And then the right. He , he says, some days, you know, one nostril is, is is working really well and , uh, and the other one may not be, and it could be different the next day. So,
Speaker 3And days like today, mine , neither one are working well. So <laugh>
Speaker 2<laugh> .
Speaker 1Well, how about your taste buds? What do you get on there? It's not overly peppery. It's , it's got a good spice. It's nicely balanced to me.
Speaker 4Yeah. I think this is a higher corn mash bill . Mm-Hmm . <affirmative> . It's a little bit sweet for a , for a rye for me, which
Speaker 1Would make sense for Casey .
Speaker 4It would. Yeah.
Speaker 2We've gotta get you some 95 5 rye, don't we?
Speaker 4Some of those I enjoy. Some of 'em I don't events
Speaker 2Me , I mean, it , they're either really good or really bad. It's
Speaker 3Like, it depends on, I guess it has to be where the RISE's grown. That's the only thing I can come up with because, you know, I've had, and we've had 95 fives, which
Speaker 2Is all the time typically associated with mgp,
Speaker 3MGP, and they're completely different. You can have a 95 5 1 day that tastes sweet and , and you can have one on another day that'll just burn and tastes like acetone. And I mean, it's,
Speaker 1You know, you're probably right . You're so much smarter than I am about this stuff. No , but I did hear AJ talk about the size of the grind on grains and how that can make a huge difference. Uh, and, you know, he was talking about some of the, the newer equipment that he has. Uh, I think he really was Was he, Chuck, you were there, was he talking more about the moonshine at the time? About , um, uh, grinding the corn and he , he needed, he couldn't quite get the same. He ,
Speaker 2He , he doesn't , yeah , he, he doesn't want a , like a flour consistency. Right . He , he wants a bit more, a bit more , uh, grittiness. Mm-Hmm. <affirmative> , I don't know how , what he , he wants you a larger
Speaker 1Gr granular piece.
Speaker 2He , he , he does a lot of , uh, grain is run through a hammer mill and it's just, it's pulverized and it's, it's not meal. It's, it's flour. Right. Uh, I realize that corn is meal , or I guess you have , I guess you can have corn flour anyway. Uh , yeah. He, he wants it to be not quite so fine. And he did equate that to , uh, his , uh, his grandfather , uh, not having his fine , uh,
Speaker 1Yeah. Didn't have have an opportunity to have Mm-Hmm . <affirmative> a tool that could grind it to that level. So , uh, I think grain size af after its ground , uh, and , um, I'm sure location has something to do with it. Uh, but there are countless numbers of variations even within a , a line of, of grains. Mm-Hmm. <affirmative>.
Speaker 2So , and I don't even know , uh, you know , most of, of the bourbons can be made from number two yellow corn. And there's, you know, there's different producers. There's pioneer and DeKalb and Becks and so forth like that. So there could be some variation there, but I have no idea how many different kinds of rye are , are grown . Yeah . So,
Speaker 1Yeah, who knows?
Speaker 3And do they come from Canada? Is it American rye? I mean, it's
Speaker 2European. Yeah.
Speaker 1All right . Very cool.
Speaker 2I, I don't know of anybody making a , uh, an an American rye out of all European rye, but I certainly have heard some bourbon producers that are using some European rye , uh, Northern European Germany or some , something like that. Yep . By the way, as I was looking on my shelf, I found a bottle of a slightly forgotten bottle. It came from , um, uh, limestone branch. Oh, yes. And it was an experimental bottle that I bought several years ago . And it's a small bottle. Yep . Uh , and it's 100% malted rye. Uh , my wife and I had a small taste of it, like it a lot. I didn't see any point in bringing something that you're, that no one's ever gonna be able to find. Probably. Right . A malted rye, it's a hundred percent.
Speaker 3You're , um, you're gonna start seeing more and more of that malted rye. Um, so
Speaker 2Was it
Speaker 3Sweeter beam is it was pretty sweet. Yep . Jim Beam is doing some experimental stuff with that. Okay. Um, they've got a Basil Hayden malted rye out right now. So , um, and it's, it's that malted rye , malted grain is, is gonna make a, a push I think in the next two or three years in the, in the industry.
Speaker 4Yeah. It's just amazing how the industry has evolved, you know, for 50 years there was really no change in the market. I mean, there were some tweaks, you know, single barrel, small batch and so forth. Uh, but the evolution of bourbon, the last, or rise in the last 10 to 15 years has just,
Speaker 3And then brings enormous, brings up the topic. Is it going to, is the, is it proverbial bourbon boom going to or balloon, whatever gonna pop? And then is it gonna stop? I just don't, I don't see it like, because they are constantly finding ways to introduce more people to bourbon.
Speaker 1Well, you know, and Right . History says that there's gonna be another clear liquid wave that comes along. Mm-Hmm. <affirmative> . Mm-Hmm . <affirmative> . We'll see if that happens. I mean, I hope so, because that'll be more for us, right? Yeah , absolutely . We don't want any of the craft , uh, distilleries to go away that , that would put a herd on them. Pretty, pretty , um, pretty significantly, I think. But , um, boy, let's, let's enjoy it while we have it, I guess.
Speaker 4Yeah. And I think we look at wine in the eighties, you know, when Napa Valley wasn't Napa Valley like it is today. Uh, and you know, the wine industry's so very strong in the US market. You know, you buy a bottle for a hundred thousand dollars if you want. I don't think bourbon has that same glamor yet. Uh, so I think there's still room to grow.
Speaker 2So the Casey Jones, I think that's, it's a , I find it to be a real, real mild rye. Mm-Hmm. <affirmative>. Very drinkable, very nice. Neat . Uh ,
Speaker 1If you're new to Rye, that might be a good choice.
Speaker 3Absolutely. A hundred percent
Speaker 2Excellent. And , uh, I think it'd be good on the rocks. I don't know if it's much of a , uh, would be a , a good traditional rye for a cocktail.
Speaker 3I don't think it would. I I agree. I don't think it has enough meat as, as I would call to stand up to mixing it. Yeah .
Speaker 2And
Speaker 3Doesn't mean it's not great. Like Yeah . It's terrific . Exactly what Bri
Speaker 1I
Speaker 3Would , I would give that to somebody says, I'm not a rye guy. I'm giving them that one all day. And that's, it's really, really good.
Speaker 2If you, if you have someone who wants a rye Manhattan, maybe this is not the ride to , to, to use
Speaker 1Yeah. Save it for drinking it . Neat . Or on the rocks, man. Yeah . Alright. Well, very cool. What do we have next year ?
Speaker 3Uh, so this one is a single barrel, a hundred percent Michigan rye , um, from two James Distillery out of Detroit, Michigan. Uh, so the Evansville Bourbon Society did a pick . Um, and I had a taste and said I have to have a bottle of that. Wow. So , um, absolutely delicious. 115 proof. Um, and so
Speaker 1Where can you find this? You have this at , uh, beverage bar .
Speaker 3We have the two, James. Now this is a single barrel pick . Mm-Hmm . So it would be okay , but we, we don't have this exact pick, but we have several of their other offerings. Um, they do a, a gin, they do a barrel aged gin. Uh , their vodka's delicious. They have a, a bourbon that is,
Speaker 1I'm sorry, you said a barrel gin. Oh my goodness. What the hell are you talking
Speaker 3About? Christmas. Think about like your Christmas, Christmas in
Speaker 1A bottle.
Speaker 3A hundred percent . Is
Speaker 2It a charred barrel or just a raw barrel? It's
Speaker 3Used bour , barrelson barrel.
Speaker 1Does it have color? Okay.
Speaker 3It does. It, it's, it would, it's a little bit darker than, it's almost a yellow. Okay . Uh , but , um, golden color. Hmm . Absolutely delicious. I've had three or four different barrel age gins. Theirs ranks right up there to the top.
Speaker 2Wow . Once upon a time I would've said no way. But since I had that , uh, spirit of a limestone at limestone branch, which is using their Yellowstone and , uh, and , and their gin , uh, in a single cocktail. Yeah . And not just, not just finish , but I mean, it's whiskey and it's gin and it makes a terrific cocktail. So I'm telling you , um, I would try that
Speaker 3If you want something to , to branch out in your, your flavor profile, find a barrel aged gin , uh, you can just drink it on the rocks. You don't have to mix it or anything. You can just sip it.
Speaker 1Now this is, this one is very good, but very different.
Speaker 3Way different than what we just experienced.
Speaker 1Very different,
Speaker 3Because it is a hundred percent raw . Yeah . You're gonna get a lot more spice. This is gonna be one that Brent is probably gonna shake his head that he doesn't care much for. Yeah . But
Speaker 1<laugh> , it's very
Speaker 3Earthy. It is
Speaker 1Earthy. Yeah. It's , uh, it's a little sharper. Mm-Hmm . <affirmative> is the first thing I get. Mm-Hmm. <affirmative> it , uh, kind of cuts you just a little bit, which is not a bad thing. It's
Speaker 2Good. First thing I got was some cherry Mm-Hmm. <affirmative> . Yeah.
Speaker 1Hmm .
Speaker 2And I'm not complaining Michigan.
Speaker 1Huh?
Speaker 2It's
Speaker 3Not a hundred percent Michigan rye . I'm
Speaker 2Just curious. Michigan is a long way from the Evansville Bourbon Society. Did people travel up there
Speaker 3To They had six people go and , and pick it . Cool .
Speaker 2Yep . Cool.
Speaker 1Hmm .
Speaker 2Do you know what the age statement on this is?
Speaker 3Four years. Four years? Okay . I'm almost a hundred percent sure. Okay.
Speaker 2So
Speaker 1Our rise is typically aged about the same length as bourbons.
Speaker 3Less actually, they're normally aged less, less
Speaker 1Time. That's why a lot of it still are start with rise . Right? Mm-Hmm . <affirmative> , because you can crank 'em out pretty fast and get 'em out there.
Speaker 3That's what , um, hard truth , um,
Speaker 1Girls did that . They got
Speaker 3Some , they did that. They , they released a two year ride . And people are like , uh, of course I say people, me, other people who are I , I wish they would've just waited four years to release it. And it was phenomenal. And , and Brian , the master distiller will tell you like they, they wanted to wait an extra year, but it was ready. So they just let it go.
Speaker 1Yeah .
Speaker 2Anyone who thought Kentucky Purists was feeling desperate when they released that 2-year-old rye was sadly mistaken . Yeah . I think it won Top 25 Whiskey. The , or was in the top 25
Speaker 1Year . I think it was number eight, wasn't it ?
Speaker 2Yeah . Number 15. It was top 2015 . Okay . The first 2-year-old in , I'm gonna say 2017, and I think it was Whiskey
Speaker 3Advocate. Yes .
Speaker 2Yeah. And the only , uh, rye and the only craft distillery to rank in the top 20 mm-Hmm . <affirmative> . And it, it was and is terrific. And then they went on to release a 3-year-old and a 4-year-old.
Speaker 1And they're still winning awards with
Speaker 2It. Yeah. They're,
Speaker 1Hmm . This is delicious. This is very good. I was a little worried. I thought, oh, this , this might not be my thing. But it's pretty good.
Speaker 3Love the color of it too. It is, it's dark and it's still got some sweetness without barley and without corn. Um, so it's, it's a really, it's a good mage to, you know what, just a straight rye can , uh, can , can
Speaker 2Do if , if it's got sweetness, but it still has that pepper. Mm-Hmm. <affirmative>.
Speaker 1Hey Brian, do you have any idea how many , um, what the ratio is of bourbon to Rye that you sell? Is it 10 to one?
Speaker 4If I had to guess, I would say probably six to one. Okay. Five to six to one. Really ? Yeah. Um , I would say within the last five years. Mm-Hmm . <affirmative> that number is, you know, it was probably three to one. Uh, or I'm sorry, it was probably 12 to one and now it's five to six to one. Uh, just because the popularity of Rise . Um, you know, it started off with , uh, everybody found out that RACQ Rye was Buffalo Trace product. Yeah. <laugh> and then Angels in Angels Vy Rye was released, which I think is exceptional. Uh, one of my favorite rices Yep . To sip on. So there's been several rides that have come out. Peerless Rye came out , uh, won those awards, and it just piqued people's interest. Uh, and then everybody dove straight in to rise . And now every, just about every distillery has a rye offering. So
Speaker 2With Sach , your bestselling rye,
Speaker 4It was , uh, it's not allocated anymore. So it's on every liquor store shelf. Yeah. It's common. Yeah. It's , it's pretty common now. Uh ,
Speaker 1It might be my least favorite, I'm
Speaker 2Be honest.
Speaker 4I agree . Yeah . I'm not a fan. I just don't ,
Speaker 1We love Buffalo Trace
Speaker 4Here. Actually, we did a blind of that and that was Yeah. Yeah. It
Speaker 3Absolutely one of, one of my least favorite rice .
Speaker 4Yeah. Bull Rice is probably one of our best sellers . I
Speaker 3Love that.
Speaker 2Uh , how about that ? That's MGP product,
Speaker 4Which I did not know until recently. Yeah .
Speaker 2<laugh> . Well, I mean, it , they're very, it's right there on the label. It says it Lawrenceburg Indiana. Yep .
Speaker 1I don't know what you guys think, but I , I think , uh, we don't have it here today, but Wilderness Trail rise
Speaker 3Pretty good. I think it's good too.
Speaker 4I like everything from Wilderness Trail. I really do. I do too . I've not had a bad product yet.
Speaker 2Agreed.
Speaker 3There's single barrels. If you have a chance to ever, if you find one on a shelf, buy
Speaker 2It. You know, we , we , we seem like we have a love-hate relationship with , uh, the, the re company. Exactly.
Speaker 1Buffalo. We buy , we buy Trace
Speaker 2And , and Fare Ride does come out of Buffalo Trace in Frankfurt. Uh, they do have a, they're producing a little bit in , in New Orleans, but that is a, that Sach Rye is a Kentucky product. I, I just don't care for it. Curiously enough at the Sri House in New Orleans , uh, that's more of a cocktail experience than it is a, a , a straight whiskey experience. They serve their pre-mixed , um, ACH cocktail. Yeah. Now, so there's req rye, and then there's Ach rye. Mm-Hmm . <affirmative> . And then there's a cocktail called the Sach . So they have a, a pre-mixed , uh, ACH cocktail that I'm assuming is made with their ACH rye. Well , I, I hope so . That's the best ACH cocktail I've ever had. So , isn't a
Speaker 4Can or a
Speaker 2I've never seen it. I really , I I was only served it. I don't recall it being available in the gift shop.
Speaker 1That was my next question. Where can you get it? <laugh> ? Uh , in new , in New Orleans.
Speaker 2I'm looking at my , uh, liquor for guy right here. <laugh> . Yeah . I doubt I can. Yeah . Where
Speaker 1Can we get it? <laugh> , you know , road trip .
Speaker 4It's funny you say that. 'cause Brad Schneider , uh, you know, judge here, judges actually over here in Henderson County messaged me one day 'cause he was at Angels Envy and they had the Henderson Mm-Hmm .
Speaker 1<affirmative> .
Speaker 4Yeah . Right . Which was a mixed cocktail that you could get only there. And, you know, so I'm, I'm sure it's similar to that. You can't get it other than at the distillery, or in that case, this RAC house.
Speaker 1Oh man. <laugh>
Speaker 4Widow Jane .
Speaker 1So we're looking at the , um, I reached for the next bottle. Uh , I remember to pour up so that we could do a transition. And I was gonna be really slick about this transition. Then I saw the label, it says, widow Jane. And I thought, oh my God, I had a bad experience with this. So you wanna tell a story,
Speaker 2Chuck? Well, my story is we were , uh, in Manhattan and my story <laugh> , we were touring. Uh ,
Speaker 1This is made in New York, right?
Speaker 2It , uh, it is. Well, so I I'm mean , we're in Little Italy. Yeah . And , uh, I look up and on a brick wall is painted a, you know, a painted billboard for widows Jane. Well, you mentioned Brad Schneider. I, I took a picture of it and I texted it to him because he and his wife had been , uh, up to , um, New York , uh, the winter before for a Billy Joel concert. And they had gone to a New York distillery, and he kind of raved about it, and I thought maybe this was it. So I was just saying, Hey, I saw a billboard for, for , for your whiskey. Well, actually, the distillery he went to was on , uh, Broadway in Manhattan. Widow Jane is a Brooklyn distillery. Okay . But now I've got Widow Jane on, on the mine. And , um, our , our wives had gone to see a Broadway show, and , uh, my buddy and I were going to pick them up. We stopped in, in a , in a bar, and I saw Widow Jane, and I said, well, I've gotta try some. And I, well, I liked it. Well, I , I bought a bottle and it's almost empty. So
Speaker 1<laugh>
Speaker 2Something happened.
Speaker 1Yeah. But,
Speaker 2But my
Speaker 1Brain . So you're in a New York state of mind is what you were saying, empire
Speaker 2State of mind. For sure. So,
Speaker 1All right , well, let's see what it , uh, if there's a nose here,
Speaker 2Do I do like that Michigan run ? Do
Speaker 4You recall what this costs ?
Speaker 2Uh , 50 or 60.
Speaker 4Oh, that's not bad. Oh , no . I'm gonna say
Speaker 2Is
Speaker 4Some of their stuff goes, some of their stuff's
Speaker 2Pretty off super premium . No , no . This , it might have been been 75 . I I
Speaker 1Why does it smell like charcoal?
Speaker 2Charcoal? You mean like raw charcoal? Yeah. Interesting.
Speaker 4Not sure if it's my mind deceiving me, but I spell apple is what I smell. Well, it's
Speaker 1Got apple on the label there. I i that I saw
Speaker 4That. I'm not, I'm not sure if my mind's playing tricks on me or what.
Speaker 2So this , this
Speaker 1Is this . It's one of those charco apples. This is <laugh> . Yeah . Says it right there on the applewood.
Speaker 2So , so to be sure this , this is a finished rye. Okay. It , it , it's , uh, it's widow Jane rye finished in a toasted apple toasted with, finished with toasted apple wood . So yeah, I I would, you might pick up some apple. I don't know about the charcoal. Of course, my man, Brent's gonna torpedo this one
Speaker 1Anyway. No , I'm not, I I'm totally open-minded
Speaker 3<laugh>. I'm with Brian that apple is there. Yeah. Like , almost like a apple pie. There's some spice there, of course, because of the rye.
Speaker 4You know, that's a ,
Speaker 1It's good, but
Speaker 4It's , it's very unique.
Speaker 2Mm-Hmm. <affirmative>. Yeah.
Speaker 3Ryan's face. I don't know that you could play poker. You don't play poker? Dude , I
Speaker 1Don't play. That's why I don't play poker.
Speaker 4<laugh> . I'd have to wear a mask if I played poker in sunglasses. <laugh> .
Speaker 1Uh ,
Speaker 2I like it. Uh, I would not use it for a cocktail. Uh, I simply would drink it as it is.
Speaker 1Um, I
Speaker 2Why not? It was the , the , the value wasn't bad. And that was a New York price, by the way. Yeah, I did . Definitely did not, did not spend a hundred dollars. Yeah. Although I wasn't in an empire state of mind. So it's, I've been wrong about prices before. It's Aaron will recall
Speaker 1<laugh>. Well , the bottle was 75 . 75 95 <laugh> .
Speaker 3Um, I think I would really, really like that if the proof point was about 105. I was
Speaker 4Gonna say it tastes low. Was it 90 ? 93 .
Speaker 2Okay.
Speaker 3So not saying it's bad, this comes across as a, and maybe, maybe it's what they were going for. It comes across as a, a scotch. Uh, it tastes, it's got that low proof , that apple fruity flavor. There's not much burn there.
Speaker 2Yeah. I get
Speaker 4Very little burn.
Speaker 2A very polite little burn. Like, you know,
Speaker 1Well , <laugh> <laugh> . So
Speaker 3It's not a
Speaker 2Kentucky hug for sure.
Speaker 3It's more like , um, New York, New York hug.
Speaker 1It's more like a New York. I'm going to ignore you. Just keep putting my head down and keep walking, walking <laugh> . All right .
Speaker 2It's different. I think it's fun.
Speaker 1Well, Chuck, I am glad that you like this. I'm go , I like you so much. Then I'm gonna let you have all of my share of Widow Jane products going forward. <laugh> , I don't dislike it. I just don't think there's much in that bottle. Okay. Now it's completely different from the last widow Jane I had, which was Rocket fuel in a bottle. Oh, wow. Um , and it was the bourbon, I'm pretty sure. Um, so I do like this one better. And I could certainly drink that one. The , the widow Jane I had before. I didn't even finish the class . So can
Speaker 2You get widow Jane ? Yeah, we can. I'm not sure how widely distributed it is .
Speaker 4Uh, the ones we have are more premium. They're , they're 90 plus bucks. Okay.
Speaker 3They're , we'll get the 10 year . 10
Speaker 4Year . Yeah. That's the most, the one we sell the most.
Speaker 3Um, there's a bottle out decadence or decades or something like that from widow chain . We just
Speaker 1Received that
Speaker 3In. Yeah. And , um, it's one of those that is highly sought after for whatever reason. Uh , I've never had it. Never tasted it, but a lot of people, I say highly sought after secondary market,
Speaker 2All that.
Speaker 3No , that, that's a different topic for a different day. There you
Speaker 1Go. So the last one is, is the one that I brought to the party today. It is the double oat Rye from Kentucky. Peerless . Uh, my favorite, I've, I've said this several times already today. My favorite go-to rye is the Kentucky Peerless Small Batch. I have a , a couple of bottles over there on the bar. I also have a couple of single barrel , uh, Kentucky Peerless r with different tasting notes. Uh, and then I just recently got this double oat , um, um, rye . I like their, I love their double oaked bourbon. It's fantastic. And I've never had this before. So this will be a new experience. It's compared to the other bottles. If you put them side by side , this is so much darker. I don't know how much wood you're gonna get, but , um, I've heard good things about it.
Speaker 2I was holding it up to the light. And it is that , that is a dark whiskey
Speaker 1Kind of musty on the nose or maybe nose blind at this point.
Speaker 2I , I get that.
Speaker 3Like
Speaker 2Scotchy?
Speaker 3No scotchy
Speaker 2Musky.
Speaker 3I'm thinking like age, like, I don't know if it's walking in a rick house . The must that you Yeah . When you walk in that rick house . Mm-Hmm . <affirmative> . And you take that first big breath of Rick house air. Mm-Hmm. <affirmative> . That's the must. Uh , and it's a such a, that's a good
Speaker 2Thing . What is , that's a good description. This is 110 .
Speaker 1Proof hundred 10 . That's what I was gonna ask, because it doesn't taste like 110 to me. It's a little softer than what I expected. I love the oaky flavor that you get here. This is a fantastic ride to me. But it almost, I mean, it feels more like a bourbon than it does . It feels like a high rye bourbon more than a rye. Did I pick the right bottle? Did I
Speaker 3Pull the wrong bottle off the shelf ? No . Yeah , it's great. No, it's, it has the best nose of the day. Double
Speaker 2Cry . Double
Speaker 4Cry . Okay.
Speaker 2Well, I just guess we tried this last, because I think it had the, the most potential for , for being a favorite.
Speaker 1I think Brian's gonna like , uh, number two there the best. And I think I'm gonna like the , uh, oh gosh, man, it's hard between Peerless and , and um , uh, Casey Jones for me. But this peerless is pretty doggone
Speaker 3Good , man . You're right. It does not, it's , it's 110 proof. Right.
Speaker 1It
Speaker 4Doesn't , but I'm assuming you , you really enjoy this, Aaron .
Speaker 3Yeah.
Speaker 1He likes it. But he'd like it to be hotter, wouldn't you ? Uh ,
Speaker 3120 . I'd be, I'd be fine. I
Speaker 4Need , I need , we need to find a new co-host here. <laugh>. Again, I'm the odd man out that I really don't, it's , I mean , it's okay in my opinion, but compared to the double bourbon,
Speaker 3Yeah . Were you asking about if it's my favorite of the bunch?
Speaker 2No,
Speaker 4Just, do you enjoy it? I mean, it's,
Speaker 3Yes. I, I I can drink it. Oh , I can , I don't know that I would , this would be one that I would be happy to have a pour at a bar and let somebody else
Speaker 4Pay for it. Like drink ,
Speaker 3Buy the bottle, you know, because of the price point. I mean,
Speaker 1I think if we would've had this first, we would've all been singing its praises. And then as we go , uh, that, that Michigan, what's the name of the, the mic , the one that you running ? Catchers Rye . Catchers Rye . Uh, I , to me that's probably the best one on this table, to be honest with you . Uh, it's the most rye . Mm-Hmm . <affirmative> . If you'll allow me a , a , a non word . Um, it , it's, I don't , I don't , I don't know what else to say. I think the peer list is fantastic. If we would had it first, I think I would've had a different opinion about it. Interesting. But this is really pretty good. It's just mild.
Speaker 3Brian took my, I was getting ready to grab my water and pour some water in my glass to see what it did.
Speaker 2Proofed
Speaker 3It down a little bit when
Speaker 2I was talking with Corky Taylor about the 2-year-old rye that got such a claim. Yeah. He was mentioning that was a, a high corn rye. Mm-Hmm. <affirmative> . So it's , we're not talking 95% corn. We're talking, I'm not sure they release , they don't. Uh , but maybe it's a 25% corn. Maybe it's a 30% corn and a 55% rye. And then some, some , some barley in there. Um, I , because he was talking about trying to make a , a rye that a bourbon drinker would. Mm-Hmm . Like Mm-Hmm . <affirmative> . So this, if, if you're looking for, for rye rye, this may not be your thing.
Speaker 3When you add water to it, it opens it up a lot. It
Speaker 4Does. It's much more approachable. Yep . In my opinion. You know, when you add a drip of water or two ,
Speaker 1You know what we're gonna have to do, fellas ? Uh, I've got four bottles sitting over there. We're gonna have to do the small batch, the two single barrels and this double oat side by side and see which one of those Kentucky Peerless products , uh, stands out. I love. 'cause that small batch to me is so good. Um,
Speaker 3So you're saying
Speaker 1I'm not gonna whisper this wind , the four ? I might, yeah. Yeah. I might like the small batch better than I like this double oaked. I'm not sure. I think I might, we're gonna have to find out. We will find out . Future episode right there. Okay .
Speaker 2This is weird. I added some water. Mm-Hmm. <affirmative> , I'm getting celery. Oh ,
Speaker 1Okay. What'd you have for lunch? That's
Speaker 3What I was gonna ask. Did you have celery for lunch?
Speaker 2Did not. I had ,
Speaker 3Uh , bloody Mary for
Speaker 2Breakfast. <laugh> had a Hammond Swiss on wheat a half and vegetable , uh, beef soup. Mm-Hmm .
Speaker 1Wow. So I don't get celery, but I definitely get a different
Speaker 2Something green nose . Yeah,
Speaker 3It is green. Absolutely green.
Speaker 2That's just because
Speaker 3Wonder where they get their rye from?
Speaker 2I don't remember.
Speaker 3I wish I knew the mash bill on this, because it's not, I mean, it has to be at least 51% rye. Mm-Hmm. <affirmative> . But I'm , it's got some corn in it too. Oh, I'm ,
Speaker 2I'm gonna take a stab in , stab in the dark and say 60% rye, 30% corn, 10% malted barley. I
Speaker 3Was 65. So yeah.
Speaker 2I'm not that good. But I'm the
Speaker 3More No, you're, you're , you're better than you think you are. The uh , the more I know this though, after adding water, the more I can get behind it. Yeah .
Speaker 1Uh , you know, we've said this a thousand times. Corky did say he makes a rye for bourbon drinkers, right? Mm-Hmm. <affirmative> . Yeah. So maybe that's, maybe that's where we are with the double oaked. I don't know. It , it's just different than what I expected. Uh , I do like it. Um ,
Speaker 2So do you find it to be it all Woody?
Speaker 3It is Woody. It's dry on the back . Yeah.
Speaker 2Yeah . You're right.
Speaker 3So you think about a dry wine after you have a glass of dry wine. The Mm-Hmm . <affirmative> the
Speaker 1Yeah .
Speaker 3Dryness. It leaves on your back of your throat. That's exactly what you get here. Yep . From the extra wood.
Speaker 4Yeah. So that's why I had water. 'cause I thought it was too much wood. Yep . Uh , it was just ,
Speaker 2Uh,
Speaker 4Extreme. Uh, so I had to drop water and that toned it down enough , uh, to be more approachable.
Speaker 2And it's not woody because it's like a 15 or 20-year-old age. This is probably a four. I I was looking for the age statement. I couldn't see it. Yep .
Speaker 4But so what they do is they, they take barrel . Once they take outta that barrel, they dump it in new barrel. And that's why it's so expensive because barrels are not cheap these days. Right. Uh , with the bourbon surge. Uh, so they put in a new oak
Speaker 3Barrel. So they take it from a new barrel and put it,
Speaker 1They put in new , another new barrel. Barrel . Yes.
Speaker 4Is
Speaker 3That all double oak or is that just what Peerless
Speaker 4No , just peerless. Because Peerless did that by mistake because they had a barrel that they had to dump. Yeah.
Speaker 1It leaked. Right.
Speaker 4It leaked. So they had to put it in, in a new barrel. Uh, and so they continue to do that today. Uh, I don't think everyone does that though.
Speaker 1Yeah.
Speaker 2So I have a bottle at home. I guess I bought it. Surely someone didn't just hand it to me at the Salvation Army. <laugh>. Maybe
Speaker 4When you're out there at the Red Kettle, they
Speaker 1<laugh>
Speaker 2You
Speaker 3Look cold, sir.
Speaker 1<laugh>,
Speaker 2I've been offered something nice , uh, while , while ringing for the Salvation Army. Never quite that nice. <laugh> chemical hand warmers were , were , were a nice one . Really cold day. So is this like maybe 125 price point?
Speaker 4Yes, it is retail .
Speaker 2Okay.
Speaker 1Alright. So fellas , uh, if you're gonna spend your own money on these rises , which one would you buy and which one would you not buy ?
Speaker 3I did forget to mention the price of the single barrel. Mm-Hmm. <affirmative> . It's 59.99. I'd buy that
Speaker 1All day long. Yeah.
Speaker 2Oh, well you just stole the shelf <laugh>. Are you
Speaker 3Serious
Speaker 2That that's it's a pick. Yep .
Speaker 1I would buy the first . I
Speaker 3Would buy the first . That would the shelf price. 59.99.
Speaker 2I am amazed.
Speaker 3Yeah.
Speaker 2Dollar for dollar.
Speaker 3Hands down.
Speaker 1I'm not gonna leave Casey Jones off the, off the table. I'm gonna buy both those first two. Absolutely. Um , all day long. Uh, the other two, well, will widow Jane, I'm not gonna spend my money on it .
Speaker 3Coming back to the widow, Jane, just very quickly after, while you were introducing the Mm-Hmm . <affirmative> Peerless
Speaker 1Exp espousing
Speaker 3The finish after it sat on my tongue. Mm-Hmm . <affirmative> was the apple from the Applewood app . It felt like apple juice. Like you couldn't , and you can go back and watch. I was over here chewing my jaws <laugh> . But you could, you could really get that Apple profile. So if that's something that you like, you would, you would love it.
Speaker 1Well, there you go. Brian. What are you thinking, buddy? Which one would you spend money on? Any of them ?
Speaker 4I would say all of 'em . I mean, the peerless , uh, would probably be my last one I'd buy. Just because the price point, I , I really enjoy it when I added a , a little bit of water. But the widow Jane surprised me. It really did. 'cause I've had the 10 year and for the price point, I did not enjoy it or I enjoyed it, but I did not, I wouldn't , wouldn't be willing to pay that. Yeah. Uh, but the Casey Jones, of course, I knew that was gonna be great. The catcher's rye I've had before, I , I knew I was walking into, but it surprised me again. It's, it's very good.
Speaker 2I'm astonished. Yeah. Yeah. Dollar for dollar, the catcher's rye is, is is my winner today. And I , I would, I'd buy any of 'em . I would enjoy all of them. Yeah . Uh , but, you know, in today's market, it's nice to find a , a good value. Casey Jones, good value. Mm-Hmm. <affirmative> , uh, that catches Rye from, from two James,
Speaker 3Two James Distillery.
Speaker 2Wow. Um , I will be keeping my eye , my eye out for that. All right .
Speaker 1Aaron , what about you buddy?
Speaker 3Two James. I , even though I brought it, but I absolutely love that it's everything that you, you would expect from a raw , it's dark, it hugs you, it's earthy. It's, it's great.
Speaker 1It is great. And they're all very good. Uh, we appreciate you guys listening. Uh, by the way , uh, help us out here. If you're listening on the audio only podcast, flip on over to YouTube. Look us up at the Distilled Bourbon podcast. Smash that like button. Even if you don't listen to the whole episode on YouTube , um, uh, we really could , uh, use a , a little help with the SEO and get us out there. And so other people can enjoy this. Uh, it helps with the algorithms, and if you'd like to subscribe, fantastic. Uh , but , uh, thank you very much for listening. And with that said, please drink responsibly.