The Mash Up

The Wild Turkey Austin Nichols Archives Collection is a limited-edition annual series led by Associate Master Blender Bruce Russell. The inaugural release is the Gold Foil Edition , a 16-year-old, 120-proof (60% ABV) non-chill filtered bourbon. Retailing at about $400, it pays homage to vintage, highly sought-after 1980s and 90s "Cheesy Gold Foil" releases. This whiskey is exciting enoug...

While the Fourth of July came and went, we are still celebrating 250 years of 'Merica. This week, we taste and review Evan Williams America 250th Commemorative Edition which is a limited-release, single-barrel Kentucky straight bourbon priced around $40. For this release, the Master Distillers at Heaven Hill selected 250 single barrels to honor America's 250th anniversary. The bourbon itse...

New Riff recently added to it's "high note" collection by releasing a 10 year old, limited edition cask strength bourbon. Coming in at 116.9 proof and carrying one of the oldest age statements since New Riff began, this bourbon is what we've been waiting for. But how does it taste? We will give you the low down. In addition to the New Riff bourbon, we also elected to taste and re...

Last year, we included Driftless Glen in our "best of" end of the year bourbon tasting and it did pretty well. Just recently, Driftless put out a 10 year age stated bourbon at 144 proof! In this episode, we taste and review this distillery only exclusive (only 96 bottles). Big shout out to our Wisconsin crew (Gavin) that helped us secure this bottle. Join us for this short as we taste th...

For the third straight year, we are bringing you a review of the annual Four Roses Father's Day Special Release. This year, Four Roses changed the slogan on the side of the glass to read, "A Pour Worth Sharing. A Memory Worth Making." But, how does it taste? This years limited offering was made up of numerous OBSV single barrels that were aged 14 years in a variety of different rick...

The James E. Pepper Decanter Barrel Proof Rye a premium, uncut, and unfiltered limited-release whiskey distilled at the historic James E. Pepper Distillery (DSP-KY-5) in Lexington, Kentucky. This whiskey is aged for 6-8 years and comes in at 115.6 proof. Shortly after it's release, this whiskey has garnered a lot of praise from the whiskey community. Some have even called it an early candidate...

A.I says...Colonel E.H. Taylor, Jr. Four Grain is an incredibly rare, limited-release bourbon by Buffalo Trace that features an unconventional mashbill of corn, rye, wheat, and malted barley. Bottled-in-bond at 100 proof, the sought-after whiskey balances the sweetness of wheat with the classic spice of rye. Unless you've been living under a rock, you probably saw that Buffalo Trace recently r...

We continue to partner with Bros Liquor in Davis, California to bring you some excellent barrel picks. In this short, Kenny and Jason taste and review two Mash Up Barrel picks that are currently available for purchase from Bros Liquor. The two bottles are Old Forester 100 proof (black label) and a Four Roses OBSO Barrel Strength. In addition to these two, they also taste a Knob Creek Barrel pick t...

Steven recently acquired a 1960s bottle of Old Crow. How he got his hands on it is equally as compelling as the bottle itself. So join us this week as we go down the rabbit hole that is dusty bourbon. The bottle we taste on this episode was produced by National Distillers which was a famed producer of whiskey before selling it's entire portfolio to Beam in the 1980s. Since Old Crow is still be...

About a year ago, we reviewed the inaugural release of the Star Hill Farm American Wheat Whisky. You can go back to episode 265 to listen to that review. For this week's short, we taste and review the Maker's Mark 2026 Star Hill Farm American Wheat Whisky. It is a limited-edition cask-strength expression. Unlike the distillery’s traditional wheated bourbons, it is a 100% wheat-focused whis...

You may have seen a couple of recent videos where we appeared alongside the Bourbon Junkies for Poor Guesses and to review the new Wild Turkey Gold Foil release. Well, aside from that, Kenny recently made the trek up to Michigan and picked some EverNorth barrels for the podcast. He selected these with a star studded crew of friends and patrons. Since the rest of the fellas didn't get to taste...

If you've ever had the chance to visit Buffalo Trace, then you've almost certainly heard them talk about experimental bourbon mashbills, barrels, and aging processes. Experimentation is something they take seriously at the "Trace" which has resulted in more than 30,000 "experimental" barrels that are aging in their warehouses. For this this short, we taste and review on...

Just last year, Jack Daniel's released Tanyard Hill Rye to much acclaim. On the heels of that release, they surprised the entire enthusiast community by releasing five different ryes via their White Rabbit Gift Shop. Each of these special release bottles are 8-10 years old and range in proof from 142.7 to 146.1. These five batches comes from three different Jack Daniel’s barrel house locations...

This "short" turned into a long episode and focused on two bottles that originate from Barrel King in Bourbon, Missouri. The first bottle is the 5th collaboration between Barrel King and Bourbon BarrALZ and this bottle benefits charity and is comprised of different Green River mash bills. The other bottle which originates from Barrel King is Drum Key Spirits Rye'd Cymbal Batch 2. Thi...

Take Your Pick Liquors is a DC based retailer that specializes in both modern, vintage, and single barrel bourbons. For this episode, we taste and review two of their more recent picks: Subtle Spirts 10 Year MGP Bourbon and an 11 1/2 Year Double Barreled Altschuler Bourbon. We've talked about Subtle Spirits before, but we don't know much about A. Altschuler (Woodwork Collective Brand). So...

Blood Oath is the signature series of Lux Row Distillers and has been around since 2015. We reviewed last years offering which was a blend of straight bourbons finished in tequila casks. For this new release, industry veteran, John Rempe chose to marry his love of Italian wine with bourbon. Pact No. 12 is a blend of 7-9-12 year old bourbons (different recipes) finished in Italian Montepulciano and...

Over the past two years, we've reviewed Four Roses annual Father's Day release. However, for the first official time in the history of the brand, Four Roses put out a single barrel/barrel strength gift shop only release to honor all the mothers out there. Dawning the slogan, "all the proof you need for this Mother's day," this inaugural release was made up of numerous OBSQ si...

Kentucky Wildcask bourbon is back! Around this time last year, we tasted and reviewed the inaugural release of this product. We were impressed and excited to see what was on the horizon for the next release. As a reminder, Wildcask Bourbon is created by a group of students at the University of Kentucky who are learning about all aspects of the commercialization of bourbon. This class at UK is part...

Recently, some of our "friends we haven't met yet" came into Lexington and some madness ensued. In the aftermath, we discovered two bottles (amongst the ruble) to review. For this week's episode, we taste and review Old Charter Finest Oak Bourbon and barrel # 80 of Single Oak Project. We've talked about Single Oak Project before, but when it comes to Old Charter, we are in un...

It's been a minute since we hit some blinds. In this short, we knock the rust off and ready our palates for some good ole' blind tastings. We also discuss our forthcoming appearance on "poor guesses" which is a blind taste off with the Bourbon Junkies. We also talk about recent barrel picks and all kinds of other fun stuff. So please join us this week and we attempt to guess age, proof, and distil...

Elijah Craig 15 Year Bourbon is a brand new offering from Heaven Hill. Some say this whiskey was created to bridge the gap between the flagship Small Batch that we know and love versus some of the ultra-aged stuff like the 18-Year-Old expression. Regardless, this bourbon carries and age statement (15 year) and a proof (108) that seems to be in the wheelhouse of the whiskey enthusiast. But, how doe...

The Wood Finishing Series from Maker's Mark rolls on and we are here for it. For this week's short, we taste and review the most current release in this series. Released in March 2026, the Maker's Stewards release is a limited-edition, cask-strength bourbon (approx. 109.6–113.3 proof) honoring the distillery’s operations team at Star Hill Farm. As the third installment in a five-year s...

We often have quite a bit to say about Heaven Hill and Jim Beam. When we were planning for this episode, it was only supposed to be about Elijah Craig. But then, we found a bottle of Old Overholt 12 Year Rye and said, "Why not try them together?" Elijah Craig Rye is a relatively new venture for Heaven Hill and Old Overholt is a brand that Beam acquired in the 1980s. If you want brand his...

Kentucky Senator Bourbon is a brand that honors some of Kentucky's most well known and iconic politicians. The seventh release in vertical series hit retail shelves recently and the limited offering honors the late Jim Bunning (1931–2017). Bunning holds the unique distinction of being the only person elected to both the Baseball Hall of Fame and the U.S. Senate and he was the senator who intro...

Knob Creek is a classic brand from the Jim Beam distillery. Beam sent shockwaves through the industry this year when they said they would be suspending operations at their main distillery for one year. Despite this news, they continue to bring many new and classic offerings to the market. Today, we taste and review the first edition of Knob Creek Blender’s Edition. Dubbed as the sweet bourbon blen...