The Mash Up

We have seen other companies blend bourbon and rye on purpose and some have done it on accident. Knob Creek is one of the latest brands to try their hand at blending a straight bourbon whiskey with a straight rye whiskey. Coming in at 113 proof, we taste and review this blend and provide our thoughts on it. For short a episode, the laughter is palpable. In this short, but action packed effort, Ant...

EverNorth Spirits Co. was founded by Dan Shook and Sean Paisley about a year ago. While Dan and Sean are best known for their YouTube channel the "Bourbon Junkies," their new venture into sourcing and blending their own whiskey has been very positively received. Back in episode 184, we had a chance to hear a bit about EverNorth straight from Dan and Sean. Definitely give that one a liste...

We've tasted and reviewed a handful of Bulleit products in the past, but for this short, we taste and review their newest whiskey to hit the market. Bulleit Bottled in Bond is a new "very special bottling from the company" which boasted that the liquid comes from the 2017 distilling season. While the bottle does not carry an age statement, we surmise that it is at least 7 years old....

Despite being affiliated with Heaven Hill branding, John E. Fitzgerald was not an OG whiskey man. Instead, he was a Treasury agent. Legend has it that he would thieve whiskey from all the best barrels in the warehouse. This is the short story of how the Fitzgerald brand was born. Throughout history, Fitzgerald whiskeys have been a symbol of quality and highly sought after. Today, we taste and disc...

For this weeks short, we have the third batch of Raconteur Rye which is a blended rye whiskey collaboration brought to us by none other than David Jennings (Rare Bird 101) and the good folks over at the WoodWork Collective. You can go back and listen to our reviews of Batch # 1 (E157) and Batch # 2 (E180). The big change for the current batch is that it uses a Kentucky rye as the base whiskey inst...

For the fourth time in the history of the podcast, we have a listener sponsored double blind. For this week, our listener and friend (Ryan from North Carolina) was kind enough to send us some things to try. We love blinds -- especially when they come from our listeners. In addition to the five blind samples that Ryan sent us, he also sent individual presents for each of us. So join us this week as...

This weeks episode takes us back into time when we reviewed one of the most sought after releases from Woodford Reserve which is Woodford Double Double Oaked Bourbon (aka DDO). All the way back in episode 93, we reviewed DDO. Even though this used to be a distillery only release with limited distribution in Kentucky, it now is a nationwide release and it comes in a bigger bottle than what we are u...

The Castle & Key Distillery opened its doors in 2018 after years of careful planning and restoration. The castle like distillery was originally called the Old Taylor Distillery and was built in 1887 by none other than Colonel EH Taylor. The distillery grounds are amongst the most picturesque in the bluegrass which is why this has become on of the most popular places to tour. After initially re...

This week we have a bottle that is meant to support University of Kentucky student-athletes through Club Blue which is the official NIL partner of UK athletics. The bourbon is made by Bespoken Spirits which is located right here in Lexington, KY. For UK fans, this bourbon is about the cause, but how does it taste? You'll have to listen to this weeks short to find out. On, On, U of K! ---------...

Did you think we were going to take some time off from blinding after the best of 2024? Not a chance. One night about a month ago, Steven sent a message to our group text and asked if any of us have ever had the newer age stated 7 year Beam. After a skeptical response from Kenny, an idea was born. We decided to do a blind of 7 year old bourbons. The bottles in this blind are: Old Louisville 7 year...

How many licks does it take to get to the Tootsie Roll center of a Tootsie Pop? Is it Buffalo Trace? Is it Wild Turkey? The world may never know. Well, even if the world may never know, we are still going to try the whiskey and give you our honest opinion. For this week, we taste and review a single barrel selection by Banner's X The Paddock Bourbon Club of 15 year old Elkwood Reserve Bourbon. Elk...

The results are in! We have officially crowned our best whiskey of 2024. This episode serves as both the grand reveal and a recap of our Best of Blinds for 2024. While you can see how the results stacked up, you're going to want to listen to this episode from start to finish because we do some surprise blinds, talk about the biggest surprises with the blinds, and also provide a major announcem...

At last, we got together to do the final round of our annual best of blinds showdown to determine the whiskey of the year. This episode captures the very essence of what we do and you will get a first hand account of the lively table talk that takes place as we are trying to determine which whiskey is the best. In addition, you'll get to hear each member of our panel numerically rank each whiskey...

It's hard to believe that Chattanooga Whiskey has been around for almost 13 years. Each year, they release a "Founder's Anniversary Blend" which celebrates whiskey from their past, present, and future. For this week, we taste and review the 2024 release of this bottle (12th Anniversary Blend). This bottle was graciously provided to us by a listener and we are grateful for that. So how does this on...

Prideful Goat is a whiskey brand that was founded in 2020 by a popular podcast host and the head of the Houston Bourbon Society. Since then, the brand has grown exponentially and gained a pretty solid following. Thanks to one of our listeners (Ryan), we were able to try batch # 4 of Prideful Goat's 15 Year Kentucky Straight Bourbon Whiskey. For all intents and purposes, this was the whiskey that s...

Colonel E. H. Taylor, Jr. Barrel Proof Rye Whiskey is the 13th release to join the famed E. H. Taylor Collection from the Buffalo Trace Distillery. This rye is uncut and unfiltered. Even though little is known about the age or mashbill of this whiskey, it comes in at a whooping 126 proof. This release has been rumored for many years, but the fact that it is finally here is very exciting. However,...

Redwood Empire gained notoriety early on by sourcing and bottling some excellent whiskey. Nestled in the heart of wine country on the Russian River in California, these distillers recently released 8 year cask strength single barrels of their own distillate. For this weeks short, we taste and review one of these bottles compliments of our good friend (and listener), Andrew. Even though this episod...

The Willett Distillery is legendary for a number of its brands and for the fact that they've sourced some of the most iconic and outstanding whiskeys in recent years. They also have been distilling their own whiskey for over 10 years. On today's episode, we open and taste an 11 year old rye whiskey that was distilled, aged, and bottled by Willett. With so many people chasing the older bottles that...

Old Forester recently released their newest offering in the 117 series to celebrate Repeal Day. Coming in at 95 proof and carrying an 11 year age statement, this liquid was matured in a heat cycled warehouse (Warehouse "I" to be exact). This, it is not your standard offering from Old Forester. While this bourbon was created for Repeal Day, we thought it would be good to crack on Christmas Eve. Joi...

Bardstown Bourbon Company is known for it's collaboration series. For this week, we taste and review TWO of the newer offerings in this series. The first, Silver Oak , is a collaboration between BBC and Silver Oak Wine makers in California. To make this batch, an eclectic blend of 6 different straight bourbon whiskeys was finished in Silver Oak Cabernet barrels for 17 months. The result...well...y...

Surprises come in all shapes and sizes and sometimes they come in a really nice box that contains a bottle of bourbon that is hand numbered to 589. This years release of Michter's 20 Year Kentucky Straight Bourbon Whiskey is one of the rarest and most allocated bottles that we've ever laid our eyes on. But, how did we get our hands on it and how does it taste? Well, in the midst of our 2024 "best...

Pappy Van Winkle's 15 Year Family Reserve Kentucky Straight Bourbon Whiskey is one of the most sought after bottles on the market today. The now famous wheated bourbon recipe was created by Julian P. "Pappy" Van Winkle and he believed the wheat was responsible for creating a soft, smooth, and distinguished profile. Turns out he was right. The Van Winkle recipe and lineup is steeped in history and...

Almost one year ago, our friend Ryan Alves made his first appearance on the podcast to discuss the results of our annual “best of blinds” event. Ryan (and Kenny) started this tradition in 2020. Each year the competition has been slightly different, but, this year might be the biggest and best field we’ve ever had. Over the next month, we will be blind tasting and rating 60 different whiskeys that...

As we push toward the the best of 2024 extravaganza, we continue to open and taste some of the most sought after bottles of this past Fall bourbon season. Released in early September each year, Old Forester Birthday Bourbon is one of the coveted bottles of the modern era. This year's release carries an age statement of 12 years and is 107 proof. So, in comparison with some of the previous releases...

We hope that everyone had a wonderful Thanksgiving! For this week's short, we decided to taste and review a bottle that has been around since 2014! High West Rendezvous Rye is considered to be a flagship whiskey of the High West brand and it is a limited offering. Once made completely of MGP distillate, this whiskey is now a blend of High West's own pot still rye and some of the distillate from th...