ruddells Mill Rye!

Transcript

SPEAKER_05 0:09

Welcome to the Whiskey Chasers, where we talk about our passion for whiskey and its history, either amongst ourselves or while interviewing distilleries. Oh, while enjoying a glass. I'm Steve. I'm Nick, and I'm Chris. Please enjoy responsibly while enjoying this week's episode of The Whiskey Chasers.

SPEAKER_01 0:28

Welcome back. Welcome back. Popping a cork. We got two new bottles that none of us have had.

SPEAKER_05 0:36

Yeah, brand new, brand new companies, brand new bottles, brand new everything.

SPEAKER_04 0:40

And these are both uh Mary picks, by the way, which we've we have learned that Mary Picks can be pretty good.

SPEAKER_01 0:45

Yeah, Mary picks can be good.

SPEAKER_04 0:47

Mary picks can be good.

SPEAKER_01 0:48

These are also ryes. They are both ryes. You know what? I'm struggling with this. I'm gonna have to pull out a knife. It's a good thing I have a lot of them. I'm struggling with this. Uh it's like more of a paper, what do you call the thing where they put it over the thing? The seal that goes over top of the cork.

SPEAKER_04 1:07

Yeah, the paper seal.

SPEAKER_01 1:08

I'm sure there's a word for a name for it. Um, but this one's more papery.

SPEAKER_04 1:12

Okay.

SPEAKER_01 1:13

It's like aren't they all papery? Like cloth like cloth paper. Like money? Yeah, like money. Like that kind of paper. Yeah, like yeah. And uh how'd you use the old the old knife? Hershaw leak 20 CV titanium special edition. We're also knife podcasts now. All right, here we go for everybody listening. Oh, okay.

SPEAKER_05 1:36

That wasn't too bad. That was pretty good. Sounded pretty good, actually. You know, it's not a scotch pop, but it's a good pop. It ain't a scotch pop. We should make a shirt.

SPEAKER_01 1:44

Ain't a scotch pop, ain't a scotch pop, but it'll do. Poured myself a decent knock. Oh, let me go Nick and then I'll go Steve. I'll be the middleman. Because I am right in the middle.

unknown 1:55

You are right in the middle.

SPEAKER_01 1:56

Okay. You get set up here. I was just telling telling the fellas, I'm just so excited to be sitting here drinking and smoking. I know it's just a good time for that. It is today's a good day for that. It's cold, it's rainy. It's not that cold. It's warming up. But it's a good day to drink and smoke. Like most days. Like most days. Most days the end and why, you know. So we poured the we poured the stuff. Now we gotta pop the tin. Now we gotta pop the tin.

SPEAKER_05 2:26

Yeah, what are we smoking?

SPEAKER_01 2:28

So I picked this one, didn't I?

SPEAKER_02 2:31

Oh, let's look at the picture. Look at the picture real quick. I do think it.

SPEAKER_01 2:35

But I just the way it was moved the other way. So I was like, wait, let me make sure. Um wait. I'll wait to say anything. Yes, that is it. That's that one, yeah. So with this one, did we say what we're drinking yet? Not yet.

SPEAKER_05 2:48

You know, we haven't. We haven't said the name of it at all. No, just that it's a new thing. We have a rye and a rye. And a rye. And that's it. We're we're gonna be drinking uh Ruttles Mill. It is a Kentucky Straight Rye whiskey. Uh it is out of Kentucky, Kentucky Straight Rye, uh, sort of. Uh company is out of New Jersey, but the juice is from can is from Kentucky. Uh 94.4 proof. Yeah. I think it said what, six years at least. It is. I think that's the other one. At least six.

SPEAKER_01 3:18

Is it was that the other one? Oh, maybe that one. I think that's yeah, that's the other one. Oh, yeah. That one doesn't have an age statement.

SPEAKER_05 3:22

No, this one does not have an age statement. So we're guessing. We're guessing. We're guessing. So looks like a decent looking bottle. It does. It's it's a very nice looking bottle. I do really like the label. Um, I think it's good looking. Ruttles mill is like kind of the flagship for this company. So they're this is the the main name that you'll see on any of their stuff. Uh yeah, we don't know the age on it, but uh excited to try it.

SPEAKER_01 3:46

Okay, with it. So we're gonna smoke, we're gonna smoke the royal yacht mixture. The royal yacht, but not just any royal yacht. If anybody knows this, it used to be what, Dunhill? Royal Yacht, right? This one is Dunhill Royal Yacht. It is the the the OG. This is not the new Peterson verse version. Uh this is the actual Dunhill, one of the old tins that is no longer made, that are all bought up. They don't, I don't think you could even, yeah, by me. You can't even, like, there was a time where you could buy this kind of a tin just for a lot of money. I don't think those days are, I think those days are gone. They're just not available, period. So not only that, this one's from a minute ago. Uh I'd have to look up, there's a way to look up these numbers. But this one, I remember buying this one like I want to say eight or nine years ago. Okay.

SPEAKER_02 4:41

So, and it's a it's uh it's a uh, you know, one of the standard tins, so it's been it's been uh preserved quite well.

SPEAKER_01 4:50

So we're gonna pop it. We're gonna smoke it. So if anybody doesn't know the Royal Yacht, it's um have to look it up. I'm pretty sure that there's a little bit of I know it's like a vapor, but I don't know what all can you look that up real quick, Steve, and tell me what the blend is. I know that there's Virginia and Parique. I don't know if there's dark fire in here, but there might be. I can't quite remember. It's been a while since I've smoked Roy Yacht. It's it's a potent blend. It's not for the faint of heart.

SPEAKER_05 5:22

Not for the faint of heart, which is what we like. We do not have a faint heart.

SPEAKER_04 5:27

I'm pretty sure that goes for the whiskey and for the tobacco. We go for the the extreme stuff.

SPEAKER_01 5:33

You know how many of these Dunhill tins I've thrown away that people collect the empty tins now? Because it yeah, it's just you don't make it anymore. Oh, you know what I mean?

SPEAKER_05 5:41

It's it is apparently a blend of Empire Virginias topped with a plum essence.

SPEAKER_01 5:46

Oh, plum essence, yeah. That sounds about right. Is that all they say that's in it? That is all they say that's in it, yeah. I want to say that there's a little bit of, but maybe it's just a hair or something, or maybe there's maybe it's not, maybe it is a straight Virginia. But when you smell this, you'll you'll understand why I don't think it's just a straight Virginia.

SPEAKER_05 6:05

Going to a different site, they do say it is Virginia's. Uh some of them are dark fired Virginia's, so there is some dark fired Virginia in it, but it is a straight Virginia with a with a plum essence.

SPEAKER_01 6:19

You want to give that a smell note? I know you like to smell them. Yes, I like the the nose. You can you can actually smell that you know most Virginia's have a little raisin y little grass or something. That is plum. That's very plumbing, but it's not for anybody smell it from here. It's not it's not an aromatic plum. No, you know what I mean? It's like it's a natural plum. Like uh, yeah, they don't put like you know, it's not a not a goopy mess.

unknown 6:41

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 6:41

This is actually gonna smoke pretty well. Looks feels like it came at a pretty decent temperature or uh moisture content.

SPEAKER_05 6:48

Yeah. So for for our bottle here, the rye, um, it is uh we I don't have a mash bill, I just know it's it's rye with a little bit of barley, so it's it's primarily a rye. Um I don't have an age statement to malted barley that's added to it. Um the the little write-up on their website says Rundles Mill, Kentucky Straight Rye is derived from the high rye mash bill and just a touch of malted barley. It's a rye mash bill that would have been common in the late 1700s and would today be considered a high rye. This is something very interesting. They may have mentioned there was rye involved. High rye, high rye. That's how they do New Jersey. That was that is that is straight AI. Is this a new company? It is a fairly new company, so they uh they came out with this bottle.

SPEAKER_04 7:41

Um it's aged three years, guys.

SPEAKER_05 7:45

Okay, yeah.

SPEAKER_04 7:45

You really you really gotta want it. You gotta look for it. Got it. I mean, on the back of this label, it's all white. Oh, it's on the bottle. Okay. But then in very dark black or blue print small says aged three years. Don't don't you think that would be something you want to like by the side?

SPEAKER_01 8:04

Right. It's like showering with your underwear on in public.

SPEAKER_00 8:09

There's always that one kid in a group, they don't have group showers anymore, but it's like they just gotta own it, man.

SPEAKER_05 8:18

Uh no, this this bottle came out in 2021. Um, so they're they're relatively new. Uh they came out with a couple more bottles, like a double uh, a uh uh a uh um double cask sort of stuff and and in 2022. So they came out with a couple more things after it. The bourbon came out in I believe 2020. So that's when they kind of started up. The the company is called Covered Bridges Whiskey Company, and this bottle is named after a covered bridge.

SPEAKER_01 8:53

I was gonna ask you what the name was.

SPEAKER_05 8:55

Yep, it's a it's a covered bridge in Kentucky. According to their their uh the research I did on the bridge to try to find out about this thing. It was uh named after it's named after uh Isaac Rudell, which is a uh Rodell. Ridell? Probably Rodell. Rydell High? Rydell High? He was a pioneer in Kentucky. He founded a Christmill on Stoner Creek in South Fork Little King River, uh, which created Bourbon County's first industrial district. Uh and there on that mill is where this covered bridge was put up. And it was there until 1960s, uh, 64, I think it was, uh, when it was destroyed by arson. Well, that's why arson that's why you can't have nice things. So um probably because of the stoner. Right. Just it's the stoner bridge.

SPEAKER_03 9:54

Somebody had a little weed get away from the street.

SPEAKER_05 9:55

It's the stoners, man.

SPEAKER_03 9:57

It was a myroach. Burned down a historical landmark. Glad you had a good time.

SPEAKER_01 10:08

Smells like like not a whole lot of anything.

SPEAKER_04 10:12

The flavor I on the Okay, so I haven't had any whiskey to drink for probably two weeks now, and I've just been drinking unsweet tea. This is maybe because of that it's got uh something going on with it. Well the smell it's it smells like MGP, like a 95.

SPEAKER_01 10:29

It kind of just smells like MGP.

SPEAKER_04 10:30

But the flavor, I I can't I can't figure that out. Well, let me dive in.

SPEAKER_01 10:35

Okay. Let me take a little sippy here.

SPEAKER_04 10:38

Steve, you're saying they're out of New Jersey.

unknown 10:40

Right?

SPEAKER_04 10:40

New Jersey, yep. Uh what's interesting is nowhere on this bottle do they say that. Well, yeah. Nowhere. They say there is a Bardstown Kentucky. Right. Produced and bottled by the Covered Bridges Whiskey Company, Bardstown, Kentucky.

SPEAKER_05 10:57

And Covered Bridges Whiskey Company is uh a front. It's a I mean maybe, yeah. That's what it sounds like. Like it is one of those, it's one of those like investment company sort of bottles. So they're they're they're nobody knows who owns them. It's all all just a bunch of money guys that own the like a slum dog, just a slum dog millionaire sort of deal. Uh and so they're they're the ones that own it. And um, they have a couple other spirits, they have a lot of wine spirits.

SPEAKER_01 11:28

Um they're just hitting all the all the different angles, right?

SPEAKER_05 11:31

Exactly. Uh, but when all the marketing around this bottle is just about covered bridges, and so the the They really like covered bridges. The the company is there over troubled water? The company is there. I think they're in Madison County. Uh Madison County. I got that one. I think Nick got that. I did not. The Bridges of Madison County. It's a it's a Clint Eastwood movie, is one of his much softer drama-y ones. Much softer. So he's a photographer that goes around taking pictures of bridges in Madison County. Um, but uh uh so like all the research, all the stuff about them is just about bridges, and the bottles are named after bridges.

SPEAKER_01 12:14

Um kind of limits how many bottles you're gonna do.

SPEAKER_05 12:16

There's right. There's I mean, they got a golden gate. There's a decent number of brands. Well, they're and they're that's they're all covered bridges. So they're not even those ones. Oh, so that wouldn't even count. Yeah, none of those would even count.

SPEAKER_01 12:26

What what what was the bridge in Sleepy Hollow? Was it named something?

SPEAKER_05 12:29

Oh, I don't know if it was or not.

SPEAKER_01 12:30

The hollow bridge probably yeah, sleepy hollow covered bridge. Sleepy hollow bridge. Just like their church is probably Sleepy Hollow Breakfast Church, the SH Sleepy Hollow.

SPEAKER_05 12:41

The bridge. Uh and so that's that's really all there is about the company is it's because they don't talk about anything else, they just talk about these bridges. Um, there is uh at least one other bottle that they make. Um produce uh uh yeah, yes, produce that they put on these are all sourced. Yeah, yeah. These are for sure all sourced. They don't even personally make it. Um, like I said, the the bottle, like it's good marketing.

SPEAKER_01 13:11

And so like I'm starting to see what's going on here. It's just some people that had some money and they wanted to invest it into something that was gonna make a little something something. This was this is on the bourbon, the bourbon boom, and they have nothing to do with it, but they did throw their money to some people that kind of knew what they were doing and they're kind of managing it from like a from a distance.

SPEAKER_05 13:30

Yep. They're only their only whiskeys are this this one, uh Ruddles Mill. They have a bourbon, uh, a rye, and then like I said, they have a uh a double rye or a double cask. Uh, and then they also have Pigeon River Tennessee Sour Mash whiskey.

SPEAKER_01 13:47

Pigeon River Tennessee, sorry, pigeon for the see what I don't know.

SPEAKER_04 13:51

Yeah. What I'm more focused on is not the Pigeon River, but the fact that it's Tennessee. What happened to the Kentucky stuff?

SPEAKER_05 13:59

Well, here's the thing that that's what that's what uh this one is. They just want a bridge.

SPEAKER_01 14:06

Right. We generally want a bridge between Tennessee and Kentucky. Whoever's paying is looking for bridges so they can keep their their theme going.

SPEAKER_05 14:17

Pigeon River covered bridge, also known as McNutt. Which which I can see why they wouldn't name it that's that's legit.

SPEAKER_01 14:25

Yeah, MCU. I think I would have bought a bottle of McNutt. Right. Which is the oldest.

SPEAKER_05 14:32

I think that would have been the first one I go after. It's the oldest standing covered bridge in Tennessee. Okay. So that's there you go. That's that's that's the reason for the name. The the whist, the the liquid's not from there, it has no connection to the liquid, other than it is also made in Tennessee.

SPEAKER_01 14:48

Dude, you you you know that that bridge was built with the blood, sweat, and tears of of some guy who, like right when it finished, we you know they were putting two boards together or something, he jumps, got McNuts. McNuts, got McNuts. Yeah, then that was it. They were like, that's what we're naming it. Yeah, dude, even that bridge looks kind of legit. Yeah, I mean, that looks like the Sleepy Hollow Bridge.

SPEAKER_05 15:14

If you go to their website, they are part of the National Society for the Preservation of Cover Bridges.

SPEAKER_01 15:19

There's a society for that.

SPEAKER_05 15:21

There is, so yeah. I mean, like I said, the the the bridges seem to be the primary function. Who sits on the board of that that's I don't know, but I bet it's thermal or thurman and ethyl.

SPEAKER_01 15:33

Yeah, thurman and ethel, yeah. Bet we might go an annual meeting at the at the local uh uh cracker barrel.

SPEAKER_04 15:42

What's interesting is when we first started in getting into whiskey, Chris. We had we were in we were in that time period where people weren't necessarily saying that it was sourced, they were kind of hiding the fact that it was sourced. It was the age of non-transparency.

SPEAKER_01 16:00

Yes. Transparency became a big thing, and either people backpedaled or they got out or they started being transparent.

SPEAKER_04 16:06

But now we're getting into back into the age of semi-transparency because you're starting to get companies like these that they're not necessarily saying where they're getting it from, but they're also not cohesive in what they're putting out.

SPEAKER_01 16:20

But I think these kinds of companies are dying off, and I don't know how much long longer this one will last, to be honest.

SPEAKER_04 16:24

So that's a big thing. I was about to say, when I was at Tipsy's this past weekend, uh, he's got a bottle of Cascade Blonde. Bottle called Cascade Blonde, Cascade Blonde whiskey.

SPEAKER_05 16:35

Blonde?

SPEAKER_01 16:36

Like a blonde, like a blonde hair, yeah. Kind of sounds like a movie.

SPEAKER_04 16:40

It does sound like a movie. On on the bottle, it says Cascade Hollow Distillery. Oh. But it's produced for a company that's out in New Jersey called Cascade Blonde. So who who who is it's it's much like this. Like who who are you? What would you do? But it's not a company that's paying Dickle to do it. Yeah, that's what it is. But why would you put Cascade Hollow on the bottle without if it wasn't yours, if it wasn't Cascade Hollows, why would you put produced by I really think still by Cascade Hollow?

SPEAKER_01 17:14

All joking aside. And maybe it's not to this level, but if you were looking to kind of funnel some money around, maybe wash it up a bit, you know what I'm saying? Probably it's probably not a bad way to go, right? Because money's changing hands here, there and everywhere, and then you do these certain things, and you know, I mean, but I maybe not, but I do think it's a rather large, rather private corporation that's probably finding opportunities like this one, many opportunities like this one to invest in, if that makes sense. Is that washing money? I don't know, probably not. Maybe it's getting rich. It's getting rich, yeah. Because the thing is they could pull the plug at any time and they're not out anything because they're paying other companies to do it. And on the off chance people are gonna buy this stuff, they're gonna they're gonna win. And if they don't buy this stuff, they're gonna win. Because at some some point those bottles would get you know bought up by stores or whatever. But I I think that's what it is.

SPEAKER_04 18:11

When we when we jumped into that era of wanting transparency because no one really talked about where they were getting their whiskey from or if it was theirs or not theirs, were the bottles super marketed?

SPEAKER_01 18:22

Yeah, it was highly marketed. I feel like they're generically like bland. Well, I think for the time, if you remember, some of those bottles were super cheese, and uh, you know, now it the way bottles look are just different. Yeah, it's almost like they've gone back to a classier look and that's made them look more high-end. But you're you're talking, you know, when what the time you're talking about, they were kind of coming out with some really off-the-wall like bottle shapes and affairs. Do you remember that? It was yeah, and it was a lot of marketing, like uh a lot of those bottles were just heavily marketed. And anything that was a collaboration between this rock star and this bourbon or whatever was the same way. It was all like loud. Yeah, and you actually they're not really coming out with stuff like that anymore. Not as much.

SPEAKER_05 19:06

No, it's it's gone more like you said, classier. It's gone kind of old school, kind of uh uh you know, western-y a little bit.

SPEAKER_01 19:14

It's got that western feel, yeah. Like that song. Like that song, Martha Union. That's a good song.

SPEAKER_05 19:20

So, yeah, I like the look of the bottle. I think it's a really slick looking bottle, just maybe a little slippery.

SPEAKER_01 19:26

It may not be not not in a good not like a slip and slide type of way.

SPEAKER_05 19:31

Right.

SPEAKER_04 19:31

So it's a very friendly rye.

SPEAKER_05 19:33

It is a very friendly.

SPEAKER_04 19:37

It's not what I would expect. Is a um not a compliment.

unknown 19:41

No, right.

SPEAKER_01 19:41

You know what I mean?

SPEAKER_04 19:42

A very friendly rye's not supposed to be uh when I say friendly rye, this is like water down. Like a limp handshake. Yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_01 19:49

This is not this is not friendly, like slightly moist limp handshake. Liberty Pole kind of like wiping on your pants, like I don't know if I want to meet that, know that guy.

SPEAKER_04 19:57

Uh Liberty Pool does a very friendly rye.

SPEAKER_01 19:59

Yeah, Dringman does a very friendly rye. Flavorful.

SPEAKER_04 20:02

Yes, it's a very different kind of friendly. This is like a limp handshake. This is like, I'm not sure if I like you right now, but I'm gonna shake your hand out of courtesy kind of feel. And it tastes all of it. Yeah, I feel like there's something going on, but I don't know what it is.

SPEAKER_01 20:15

Well, that could just do this. Let's talk about this. This is made in Bargetown, correct?

SPEAKER_04 20:21

They're uh based out of Bardstown. Yeah, I don't know. It doesn't say still in Bargetown, right?

SPEAKER_05 20:26

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 20:26

Uh well I would assume it's just still in Kentucky.

SPEAKER_05 20:29

We don't know where, but I would assume it's let's play though.

SPEAKER_01 20:32

Where do you think it's made from, game? I think Bardstown. Yeah, but you mean Bardstown. Yeah, yeah or Bardstown Company. I think Bardstown Company. Oh, Bardstown Company. Well, their stuff's so expensive. How much is this bottle? Well, not I'll tell you how much I would pay for it, but how much we'll about 50 bucks. Okay. Okay. I have our time, believing that's from Bardstown. For 50 bucks. Well, they do a lot of they do a lot of uh sourcing though. Sourcing?

SPEAKER_04 20:56

For 50, I could see this being Bardstown for 50. Maybe.

SPEAKER_01 20:59

Yeah, maybe without their name on it.

SPEAKER_04 21:01

Yeah, without the name on it, I could see it being 50.

SPEAKER_01 21:03

It just doesn't taste a whole lot like their stuff. You don't think so? Yeah. It does. Well, maybe because their stuff is all like finished this and finished that.

SPEAKER_04 21:10

Well, did you know that so Bardstown recently purchased Green River? Yes, they bought Green River, which the distiller for Green River, which is now under Bardstown, came from MGP.

SPEAKER_01 21:23

Well, that checks out.

SPEAKER_04 21:25

Yeah, came from MGP.

SPEAKER_01 21:26

I think you're ringing the bell on that one. Yeah. I think that's probably what this is.

SPEAKER_04 21:30

So which is 95 and 5? That's their common mash bowl, but this doesn't taste like a normal 95 and 5 MGP rye to me. It's not as bitey.

SPEAKER_05 21:39

Well, what's the five? And is it barley? Barley. Okay, okay.

SPEAKER_01 21:43

Yeah, that's their standard 95 and 5. It doesn't taste like MGP. There's a little bit something else going on. There is I that's what I'm saying. I can't figure out what that something else is because it doesn't fit. But I will say the aftertaste is very similar to an MGP. Yes. Very similar. Very similar to the way I mean, and not just the taste of it, but the way it finishes out very quickly, rapidly kind of leaves your mouth.

SPEAKER_05 22:09

Yeah, very rapid.

SPEAKER_01 22:10

It's a very short. Like a very, very, very rapid kind of a thing. Like a farm. It comes and goes, yeah. Yeah.

SPEAKER_05 22:16

It has just that touch of ride, the back end. Well, I guess all the way through. There isn't much of a back end. It's just like I said, it's kind of one it's very fast. It's in and out.

SPEAKER_01 22:25

So yeah, it's uh if this was a ride at an amusement park, you like the bumper cars. You ever noticed by the time it takes so long to set up the bumper car ride, then they go and it's over very quickly.

SPEAKER_03 22:42

You ever notice that you can't get across the thing?

SPEAKER_01 22:44

I never noticed that as a kid, but being an adult now watching my kids doing it.

SPEAKER_04 22:47

It's frustrating, isn't it?

SPEAKER_01 22:48

It's a very it takes longer to set everybody up and go around and do their checks than it does for the I want to time it next time because I was like, that thing was over in like two and a half minutes, maybe. It's a very quick ride for for all the setup involved. And I'm like, and what do you really need to check them that much? Like they're going like you're gonna be fine. You're going about one and like one and a half miles an hour.

SPEAKER_04 23:12

No one's gonna go flying the minute they get hit.

SPEAKER_01 23:14

Like you're going very slowly in a very tight, very tight. There's not a whole lot of room to operate. There's not. It's not like there's any straightaways that you can pick up speed or anything. It's very, very not much going on ride. But then they check them like they're about to go on the indie 500, right? Like, let me make sure this is on. And then they they lay down all the rules. Like, dude, all you really need to do is keep your hands inside the car because you don't want those to get smashed.

unknown 23:38

Right.

SPEAKER_05 23:38

Yeah, that would hurt. But I also remember as a kid being like, man, I am just going a mile a minute, I'm running around this place and I am slamming into people.

SPEAKER_01 23:49

That's one of those things I think that that's that's part of getting robbed as an adult. Yeah, right. That's the stuff when you're an adult, you realize, oh man, I I you know it's over. You know what I mean? Like, because when you're a kid, bumper cars is so much fun. Then as an adult, you're like, that is really not anything. But but it's it's perception, right? And that does suck. Like, you're like, I can never go back to that where something so simple was so amazing. I'm way past it. It's kind of like the teacup.

SPEAKER_04 24:18

It's kind of like the teacup ride. Yeah, like spinning around in circles. As a kid, you're like, this is so much fun. As an adult, you're like, stop this from spinning, please.

SPEAKER_05 24:27

I will I will throw up somehow.

SPEAKER_01 24:30

This is way too much. You're way less worried about what it looks like throwing up in public as a child than you are as an adult, obviously. You know what I mean? But let's talk about the tobacco a little bit since this this is just ho hum on the whiskey front. What do you think, Steve?

SPEAKER_05 24:46

I like the tobacco a lot. And I think because of that plum topping, it adds a touch of sweetness to it that I think is uh is maybe helping out the whiskey a little bit too. Because like if I just if I hold the whiskey in my mouth, it's a little it's kind of on the sweet side for for a minute, and then goes into the rye when you swallow. And I don't know if that's the w whiskey or if it's the tobacco going with it. Could be.

SPEAKER_01 25:12

The plum is very much a um, you know, a natural type of it's it's it's there the way that a banana is sweet. You would never be like, oh, bananas are sweet, right? But they are, right? They are, yeah. So it's it's the plum is there in the way that you would you would miss it if you didn't know about it. Yeah. But once you know about it, it's there. But it adds something to the uh Virginias, which are just very well done.

SPEAKER_05 25:40

Exactly. It really is. It's a very good tobacco. I like it a lot.

SPEAKER_01 25:43

It might be one of the most easy smoking Virginias out there, too. For being pretty much a straight Virginia. And then you can tell this one's got some age on it, because it's got a it's a bit like it's not harsh, yeah, and it's it's matured. You can tell this is matured, it's more complex flavor, not and not harsh for Virginia.

SPEAKER_05 26:04

I would agree with that. And it's um I was and Virginia kind of is your just kind of standard tobacco sort of flavor. So it doesn't like hold a lot of flavor a lot of times. But you're right, with that age, it does add some it it distinguishes it a little bit.

SPEAKER_01 26:20

Yeah, Virginia can be a temperamental bitch. I mean, there's just no way around it. If you're if you don't know what you're doing, you'll hate it and you'll burn your mouth up. If you really know what you're doing, you appreciate it. But it it's it's a lot of work to smoke them right or age them. If you don't age them, especially, you can tell. I mean, they if you're not careful, uh, they burn super hot and they will bite you. And then you and you'll lose the flavor too. It's it's like you have to smoke them just right, and you have to pack them just right. This one's a lot less uh. Yeah, it's not as temperamental, and it's not hot, it's not burning hot at all for me. And again, I don't know if that's the age. I've never had um Royal Royal Yacht that was aged. I've always had it fresh. I remember always liking it, but I do remember finding it harsher if you weren't careful, and you're a little younger tasting. But this thing is just um I don't know if it would burn you even if you've tried. Like it's just burning very cool. It really is staying lit.

SPEAKER_05 27:17

It is. If I wasn't talking, I don't think I would have had to relight it at all. Yeah, it's good.

SPEAKER_01 27:22

Overall, I guess I don't know how final thoughts on the whiskey because I we have there's just not a whole lot to talk about.

SPEAKER_05 27:28

There really isn't. It's unfortunate. So I'm I'm What is the story of where you got I'm very disappointed. Yeah, I want to hear about how you got it, why you got it. Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 27:36

So uh Steve and I were talking. Steve and I do a lot of the the bottle picks for the podcast. Chris kind of knows this. I'm more gonna show up and uh give your honest opinion kind of guy. Yeah. So Steve and I were talking about how do we how do we help guide through this year plan out bottles? Because I'm a big planner. And we thought, well, it'd be it would be a really good idea to take what we had as our predictions, our hopes for the year, and pick bottles that kind of encompass that. So Steve's was uh different grain, like some kind of different grain or mash, something weird, unique kind of thing. Because we went we had finishings, people are really kind of getting tired of the finishings. We're we're wearing them out. So we want something unique grain-wise. Chris was Canadian, Canadian done well.

unknown 28:27

Yeah, Canadian done well.

SPEAKER_04 28:28

Canadian done well, whether that's by a Canadian company or an American company, just Canadian done well. I had the idea, so I looked at Liberty Pole and what they do, and I guess the idea around Liberty Pole and for the year was looking at craft distilleries doing things right, and craft distilleries really showing their potential for more, for something to put themselves uh above the big names, right? I was in Indiana, this is around Christmas time when I got this with my family, and we went into Citywide Liquors. Do you remember Citywide Liquors in Mitchwaka? Yeah, yeah. So we went in there and they, of course, they had uh Parker's Heritage uh American single malt. Steve, I actually uh looked at I asked the price tag that was sitting on the shelf. That was about five, six hundred bucks, and I said, Nope, yeah, not doing that one. No, that's okay. Uh but I went looking through and I actually got the bottle that we're gonna have next. I got these two together. The one that's sitting uh that we're having next, that's the one that I picked. Mary saw this and said, Ooh, this looks this is enticing. It's got crafted, it's small batch. It says crafted small batch literally on the label.

SPEAKER_00 29:38

So it sounds that means it must be.

SPEAKER_04 29:40

It sounds small craft. I mean, like a craft distillery, right? And the way that it's written out, the way it looks crafty. It looks kind of crafty, you know, but not the crafty that I want after trying it. So with no research bought it. I'm disappointed in it because it feels like a lie. Foregate without the price tag.

SPEAKER_03 30:01

Foregate's good though.

SPEAKER_04 30:02

Can be. It can be good. But it's one of those that they do nothing. They may finish it, but they they own nothing. Yeah, they own zero part of the whiskey. It is all bottling and or finishing, and that's it.

SPEAKER_01 30:15

Yeah. So to me, it's like it reminds me of eight and sand or or or it's better than eight and sand or tanner's creek. Tanner's creek. No, but it reminds me of of it. Yes. And that bottle actually reminds me of a bottle. I just can't think of what it is, but it looks the colors aren't the same, but it looks very similar to something else.

SPEAKER_04 30:34

And I'm I guess I'm trying to figure out okay, none of this seems to be legitimate for you as a company. Crafted small batch, you did nothing for this. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 30:42

Well, anytime you put crafted on there, that's BS. Anytime you put small batch on something, that's BS. The only thing that matters on a label like that would be single barrel or or or uh you know barrel pick or or you know those things. But I mean, we've known that for years and years, long time. That small batch and and and uh and craft and you can put that on anything. I mean, I I always make the joke, right? Like anything coming out of Jim Beam is not small batch, like so to put that on anything uh from a major company is a uh is a hilarious joke, right? Right there. You know what I mean? That's like McDonald's coming out with a small batch sandwich. Okay, glad you put that on the thing, you know. It's like putting organic on everything.

SPEAKER_04 31:26

Yeah, things just ain't organic. Steve couldn't find a uh an age. We had to go, we literally had to go searching almost with a magnifying glass to find the age on this bottle. It wasn't easy either for you to find the actual company.

SPEAKER_05 31:40

No, yeah, it it took a minute to even find that. And so and then New Jersey's kind of. And it's yeah, it's just like I said, it's just it's a it's a trust fund sort of company. Right. There's no pride in this, it's a money company, and so it's a market bottle. It is, that's it. It's it's entirely a market, but this is a bottle that is here simply because bourbon is hot and they wanted to make a bottle, it's a catfish, and and rye is now hot, so they're they're throwing that in there.

SPEAKER_04 32:04

Even the flavor of this is bourbon. This is not rye, like this does not drink like a rye.

SPEAKER_01 32:08

No, there's nothing about that that's that's like rye, you know.

SPEAKER_04 32:12

This is high rye bourbon right here at its at its best.

SPEAKER_01 32:15

And it's but a poor, it would if you if and if you didn't know it was a rye, you'd think it was just a subpar bourbon, like a kind of a you know. I don't think I could give this to anybody and they'd be like, ooh, that's rye. You know what I mean?

SPEAKER_04 32:27

Unless I really hated rye.

SPEAKER_01 32:29

And then even if you hate it, I just there's not enough flavor in there for me to. I mean, the ingredients are rye, but it just doesn't taste like anything. Yeah, you know, that's like yeah.

SPEAKER_05 32:37

I mean, uh, companies like this, like there's we've ran into a few of these that are they're like this.

SPEAKER_01 32:42

That are like a sugar cookie without the sugar.

SPEAKER_05 32:44

Yeah. And like these, I'm hoping that now that bourbon is dying out, these companies are gonna die with it. I like it. I think the money's gonna run out on it, and these these guys will just disappear.

SPEAKER_04 32:55

These, I mean, the people that are buying this are probably just one-timers. Yeah, they find it, they get bamboozled, they buy it, they're done.

SPEAKER_01 33:02

Exactly. And that's why these companies only last for a few years. They end up on the last call shelf. And it's because these stores have already bought the bottles and now they have to do something with them.

SPEAKER_04 33:11

Which is funny because I feel like for these companies, they're actually spending more money than craft distilleries do to put out good bourbon, to put out good whiskey.

SPEAKER_01 33:22

In a way, I think they're playing the numbers. I think that they're doing it in a way that that they actually even if they're making like pennies on the bottle, they're still making out. Because if you think about it from an investment standpoint, you know, say you invest a million dollars uh into something, and you would just make like a couple pennies on each unit, you're still gonna come out with a return that is higher than your initial investment. And as long as you get that initial investment plus the return, it's always good business. Yeah, that's always a profit.

SPEAKER_05 33:51

And you know, I don't know if this is true exactly or not, but I think that most people that are into craft whiskey are probably like us and like you, where you just you see it, it looks kind of interesting and you buy it. You don't do a whole lot of research before you pick it up. It's a craft distillery. There probably isn't a lot of research for a lot of it.

SPEAKER_04 34:08

So just or the research that's out there, the reviews are gonna be like, oh, it's terrible. Or I don't know that I'd go after that one.

SPEAKER_05 34:13

So you just you pick it up and you try it, but then you try it once and then you don't go back and you won't get it again.

SPEAKER_01 34:20

Right. That's that's probably three quarters of the people that are into bourbon.

unknown 34:23

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 34:24

That that that think that they're into bourbon and they are into bourbon, but they're they don't do any of the research. And like you said, they might pick it up on a random and then be like, okay, I'm not gonna get it again.

unknown 34:33

Right.

SPEAKER_01 34:33

That's still like a lot of people that are like you know, air cleaner. That's a lot of first buys. Yeah.

SPEAKER_05 34:39

Um, and I just I think bottles like this one won't have a lot of second buys.

SPEAKER_04 34:43

I don't think they will. And if they do have second bottles, I don't think it's gonna go anywhere. Yeah, I I think it's gonna die out, kind of thing. The fact that you only have a bourbon and a rye, you've been around since what, 2021, you said?

SPEAKER_05 34:55

Uh 21 is when the bourbon came out.

SPEAKER_04 34:56

Okay, so 2010. When the rye came out. So 2020?

unknown 34:59

Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 34:59

He came out in 2020. Right about there. Okay, we are well past just bourbon and rye at that point.

SPEAKER_01 35:06

We are going into finishings. We're going into all they have to do at this kind of company, all they have to do is tell whoever their supplier is what they want and they put it in a bottle and and they sell it. That's it. So for them, I think it was just nothing more than putting down on paper and having the board vote which kinds of products do we want. That's it. You know what I mean? They weren't even creative enough to sit around and think about okay, now we do want to do a finish, we do want to do this. They they don't care. It's literally like give me a bourbon and you know, give me these types of whiskies based on the numbers that that our accountant pulled, or whoever pulled the numbers of the best-selling liquors right now, put give me one of these things.

SPEAKER_05 35:43

And and that's exactly what they did. Because the next the next the next two bottles that came out in 2022 were double casks, which is you know, the next hot thing and 2022. That were following trends. And they haven't put out anything since then, nothing since then. Uh, not not under the Ruttles mill. I'm not sure when the Tennessee came out. But those are the only two things they made.

SPEAKER_01 36:07

I mean, it's like AI. They probably asked AI, like, what is a good theme for bourbon? And they were like, cover porches.

SPEAKER_05 36:12

Yeah, cover porches. And that that thing that I read you was completely AI. Just the way it mentions high rye three different times. Yeah, that was in a paragraph. Like, how many times are you gonna repeat it? That's 2021 AI. Like, that's what that was. Not as good.

SPEAKER_02 36:26

Yeah, that ain't meta.

SPEAKER_01 36:28

Yeah, exactly. That was the bad AI back in the day. That was the chat GBT crap or whatever it was.

SPEAKER_04 36:36

So that's my story of how I got this and why I got it. Now I'm curious in your guys' thoughts on a the bottle, the price, or sorry, a the bottle, right? The flavor, b the price, and C, would you ever pick this guy up again?

SPEAKER_05 36:51

So for me, having it now, I will for sure never buy it.

SPEAKER_04 36:56

Did you were you thinking about it before?

SPEAKER_05 36:58

I if if I would have walked into a liquor store and saw that label, I would have been interested. Okay. For 50 bucks, which is a pretty middle ground, definitely for cheaper, right? Yeah, yeah. If it would have been 40, it would have been a no-brainer. I think I think I would have given it a few. Yeah, a thousand percent. Yeah, uh, at 50, you know, that's you're kind of up in the middle there, but on the label there, it says it's craft, right? It crafted small batch, craft and small batch, and so if if it is a small company, which I've never had anything buy these guys before, I've never seen them before, so it is a small company, so now it has small company tax. So now 50 bucks. Okay, so I might take a stab at it. Uh, but after drinking it, I would never buy it again. I wouldn't buy it for 20 bucks. You'd end up on the dudge, like it's uh it's it would, it would it ends up on the dud shelf. Uh, I I would bamboozle somebody else the way you bamboozled me at the beginning about with it, like with my eight and sand. With Tanner's Creek, eight and sand, yeah.

SPEAKER_01 37:56

Yeah, or Tanner's Creek. Hell, Tanner's Creek's better than this.

unknown 37:59

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 38:00

So I don't I don't want to put it down too bad, but what I would say is I would say it's a decent mixing bottle for like 20 bucks. However, there are better mixing bottles for 20 bucks.

unknown 38:12

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 38:13

That's how that's that's it. That's my assessment. So that's that's kind of harsh, but it is what it is.

SPEAKER_04 38:19

It's very interesting. There's certain bottles, Chris, that you're like, I don't want to put it down too bad. There's bottles for me uh that I don't care after a certain point. This is one of those that I don't care to put you. Oh no, I was it was a joke.

SPEAKER_01 38:30

Yeah. Like I basically just backhandedly said that there was $20 bottles that are better than this.

SPEAKER_04 38:35

And it but it made me think like, I don't, I don't care to put you down because I'm not sure that there's anything to put down.

SPEAKER_00 38:40

I don't know, there's no pride in the world. We wouldn't be hurting their feelings. No. They're like exactly.

SPEAKER_01 38:45

We already got our money and we're already out of, we're actually already dissolved that company. Right. You know, like it's uh I don't, yeah.

SPEAKER_05 38:51

That's and uh, you know, after most episodes, we usually send send the the episode to whatever company it is we do and just kind of let them know we did it.

SPEAKER_04 39:01

Uh this company might be surprised that we even got their bottle.

SPEAKER_03 39:04

Yeah, exactly. And like we probably wouldn't even be able to find an email for them if I were to email them.

SPEAKER_05 39:11

If I do email them, like one, I don't think a single human will ever read it. Uh and two, even if they did, they wouldn't care. Uh honestly, you know what? The real honest answer is I think what would happen is I would send it to them, be like, hey, we just reviewed your bottle on the podcast. And they would send me back a thank you and probably send us hats because they would have no, they'll never listen to it.

SPEAKER_04 39:33

Right. Exactly.

SPEAKER_05 39:34

They wouldn't care, just crap all over.

SPEAKER_01 39:37

Well, I don't even know if they'd do that. It'd probably be an AI generated message. We could probably send them something like your bottle sucks, we reviewed it, we really didn't like it, all these things. Then it would be an AI message back, like so glad you enjoyed our bottle, you know, blah blah blah blah blah. Good to hear from our fans. You know, it would have been a complete computer generated thing. Like, okay, that's probably exactly what would happen. Which is so we'll do it, I'll let you know. We'll find out, yeah. We'll keep we'll keep you guys posted if you want to find out about this. Yeah, yeah. So there's a text. Let us know.

SPEAKER_05 40:07

Yeah, we'll we'll post it. I don't care. We'll put it right up there. No, yeah, companies like this. Like, I I don't mind shooting on companies like this because, like, they like I said, they're not they're not a real whiskey company. They're they're here to make a buck and then they'll go on to the next thing. You know, whatever, whatever next spirit is hot, uh tequila, whatever, they'll they'll come out with a tequila bottle.

SPEAKER_01 40:30

And and it'll be probably have their hand in a few different yeah, chairs.

SPEAKER_05 40:33

There's probably a covered bridge in Mexico.

SPEAKER_03 40:37

Dividing America and Mexico, but it's still covered. Covered bridge. The local lore says the covered bridges. The local lore says it's been there since before America was back.

SPEAKER_05 40:51

They'll get into pergolas for Japanese whiskey. I don't know, but like and so, yeah. So, yeah, this is an unfortunate bottle. Uh, there's not a lot of research. The the whiskey isn't great. Um, the saving grace of this episode is this fantastic tobacco.

SPEAKER_01 41:10

The tobacco is good. Tobacco is great. So I I hate to um, you know, put her down. I don't want to put the pipe down. I'm only like halfway through this blow, right?

SPEAKER_04 41:23

But do you want more? You can have more whiskey with the pipe if you'd like.

unknown 41:26

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 41:27

We'll see how thirsty I am after we're done with this podcast. I'd have to I'd have to be parched. We'll see. There's more to drink and more to smoke.

SPEAKER_05 41:35

And so I do have higher hopes for our next bottle. At least, at least on the whiskey, or at least on the research end, there's a decent, there's there's some good stuff with it. So at least at least on that end, we'll have something interesting to say.

SPEAKER_04 41:46

We'll see if the whiskey's ain't good, but Steve, you did say on the pot the episode for the the January 1st, right? So the prediction. So you did say that you're hoping to find more duds this year.

SPEAKER_05 41:58

Yeah, I I I expected to find some duds. I think we uh this this would this fit in that dud for you in your mind. Well, you're the one that's been 50 bucks.

SPEAKER_04 42:07

This is your dud.

SPEAKER_05 42:08

This this is a this is uh this is your dud. But but I will like what I meant by that, and what I mean by that is I do I want to try new things, and and so you know, again, this is a bottle that if if I would have seen it on a shelf, I probably would have picked it up. Um would have been a dud for me because like I said, I really like the look of the bottle. Um, and they did kind of help themselves by not telling this big story about a covered bridge on the back of it. Yeah, it doesn't have that standard kind of non-sensitive wasn't able to generate a label.

SPEAKER_04 42:42

It is on the booklet that they give you, and there is a little book that's gonna be a big thing they do tell you uh that it will stand out in a cocktail.

SPEAKER_00 42:50

Well, hey, at least in a $50 bottle and they're talking about mixing it with a cocktail, that just shows you their their confidence.

SPEAKER_04 42:57

I mean, come on. Their very last thing is uh their the distinct spicy profile will stand out in cocktails.

SPEAKER_01 43:05

That is that is if that's not a computer writing a blurb about something I don't know what is, dude. You didn't even drink all yours, Steve.

SPEAKER_05 43:13

I haven't yet. No, I will, like, I won't dump it. He's savoring it, Chris. He really enjoys this.

SPEAKER_01 43:19

Normally we're in like a second pour of something by now, you know.

SPEAKER_04 43:22

Yeah, no, this this guy's uh I kind of want to pour a second glass just to make sure I was right that it was it was bad. Like, am I missing something, you know? Like, did I miss something the first time?

SPEAKER_05 43:34

No, like I said, like I said, I would I would feel I would feel some way about it if, like I said, they were some sort of a small craft, and you know, and you and you get that, you get that co those those those bottles that are these smaller companies and they just haven't figured it out. They're really trying, yep. They're trying, they're they're figuring it out still, and maybe it's say maybe it's sourced or whatever else because they're still trying to figure out their profile and their palette. But in this case, this is this is just they bought the cheapest barrel they can find and that's that.

SPEAKER_04 44:02

They went on. Yeah.

SPEAKER_05 44:03

They moved on with their life.

SPEAKER_04 44:04

Yep. Yeah.

SPEAKER_05 44:05

And I think we should move on with ours. I agree.

SPEAKER_01 44:08

This honestly might be one of the shortest episodes we've had in a very long time. Nick's trying to find things for people to listen to us talk about.

SPEAKER_04 44:17

Like there's I can't I don't know what else to say. Like there's nothing else to say about this. We could yeah.

unknown 44:22

All right.

SPEAKER_03 44:23

If you ever want to hear us talk about life and just let us know. And we could go off on some tangents.

SPEAKER_04 44:28

We could we could but the fact that this brought up no tangents. No tangents. That's a little rough.

SPEAKER_01 44:32

That's that you know that's a good point. People listen for the tangents. That's a no tangent bottle. This is a very zero tangent.

SPEAKER_04 44:38

Yes. So dud on all ends.

SPEAKER_03 44:41

The sugar cookie without the sugar.

SPEAKER_04 44:42

Yes. Are we oh sorry you keep saying sugar cookie without the sugar. I keep thinking you know around the well it's not even the holidays but the like Meyer or even Kroger sugar cookies that are like almost like shortbread cookies with the thick icing on it.

unknown 44:57

Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 44:58

That's what I picture with no icing. That's what this is.

SPEAKER_01 45:01

Where it's like like I I really gotta like it's not so much the taste. I just mean it's basically like a cookie with no so it's missing something like it takes like what makes it like the definition of a cookie it's missing that. Which is that's that's that's pretty bad. Right. Yeah cookie without the sugar what is it at that point?

SPEAKER_05 45:21

Yeah you know so I will I will allow one tangent now. Uh my sister and cookies my mom growing up would make cookies on like Monday or Tuesday like the dead the batter and then put it in the fridge because she didn't like making cookies. So she knew by like Thursday when it was time to actually cook the cook them it'd be like half gone. We would have eaten it all out of the fridge. Oh you eat the oh just eat the dough. But um because my dad all of us would do that. Isn't it salmonella? No there's there's one egg in that you're fine so this is not like a full carton of egg match. Actually this is just one egg. But uh my sister doesn't like chocolate chips in her chocolate chip cookies. She wants the dough like the the chocolate chip definition of a chocolate chip cookie. They're just a cookie in that so that dough that's in the fridge didn't have chocolate chips in it. And so now what happens is that or you know she she cut it cut it in half or whatever and make big part of them without the cookie without the chocolate chips. The other half got the same amount of chocolate chips that was supposed to be in the whole batch.

SPEAKER_03 46:32

Oh so it's double chocolate.

SPEAKER_05 46:34

So it was like a double chocolate chip. It was fantastic. And sometimes it's too too much of a good thing is a good thing. It is it worked out sometimes yeah God bless Tollhouse and so but yeah my sister was always uh that's what I think of with your chocolate with your sugar house the sugar cookies is chocolate chip cookies without the chocolate can I get blueberry pancakes hold the blueberries please can I get blueberry pancakes hold the pancake please that is this bottle there we go we had one tangent now one tangent we're good now it's an episode so now we can move on with our next time yeah stay tuned for the next episode thank you for listening to the podcast if you want more great content and other perks be sure to support the show by clicking the link in the show notes. We can be reached on our website whiskey tasterspod.com with any ideas for the show. Thanks again