February 21, 2025 • 51 mins
Oh it’s hiding something
@beamdistilling @penelopebourbon @ezrabrooksbourbon @newriff #whiskey #whisky #bourbon #podcast #radioshow #host
Co hosts : Good ol Boy Justin, Made Man Maury, Made Man Bob
SIPS – On this episode we discuss a variety of expressions from Penelope, Ezra Brooks, New Riff, Hidden Barn, and Booker's. From the classic A Overholt straight rye to the innovative Penelope Rio honey and Ambarana cask finish, there's something for every whiskey enthusiast. Get ready for lively discussions, unexpected tasting notes, and plenty of laughs as our hosts share their thoughts on each pour. With ratings ranging from one to five sips, you'll want to tune in to find out which whiskies made the cut and which ones fell flat. Whether you're a seasoned whiskey lover or just starting your journey, this episode promises to be both informative and entertaining. We will be discussing this whiskey and rating them from 1-5 with 5 being the best:
6:40 A. Overholt Straight Rye Whiskey 4 SIPS
13:29 Penelope Straight Rye Tokaji Cask Finish 3 SIPS
21:01 Penelope Rio Honey and Amburana Cask Finished Straight Bourbon Whiskey 3 SIPS
26:33 Penelope 4 Grain Cask Strength Bourbon Batch 17 4 SIPS
31:48 Ezra Brooks 99 Port Cask Finished Kentucky Straight Bourbon 3 SIPS
37:26 New Riff 8 Year Kentucky Straight Bourbon 3 SIPS
42:41 Hidden Barn Kentucky Straight Bourbon Whiskey 7 Year 3 SIPS
47:25 Bookers Springfield Batch 2024-01 5 SIPS
info@sipssudsandsmokes.com X- @sipssudssmokes IG/FB - @sipssudsandsmokes Sips, Suds, & Smokes® is produced by One Tan Hand Productions using the power of beer, whiskey, and golf.
Available on Apple Podcasts, YouTube Music, Spotify, Pandora, iHeart, and nearly anywhere you can find a podcast.
Enjoying that cool Outro Music, it’s from Woods & Whitehead – Back Roads Download your copy here: https://amzn.to/2Xblorc
The easiest way to find this award winning podcast on your phone is ask Alexa, Siri or Google, “Play Podcast , Sips, Suds, & Smokes”
Credits:
TITLE: Maxwell Swing & Flapperjack
PERFORMED BY: Texas Gypsies
COMPOSED BY: Steven R Curry (BMI)
PUBLISHED BY: Alliance AudioSparx (BMI)
COURTESY OF: AudioSparx
TITLE: Back Roads
PERFORMED BY: Woods & Whitehead
COMPOSED BY: Terry Whitehead
PUBLISHED BY: Terry Whitehead
COURTESY OF: Terry Whitehead
Post production services : Pro Podcast Solutions
Advertising sales: Contact us directly
Content hosting services: Audioport, Earshot, Radio4All, & PodBean
Producer: Made Man Bob
Whiskey Tasting, Rye Whiskey, Bourbon, Penelope Whiskey, Overholt Rye, Ezra Brooks, Hidden Barn Bourbon, Booker'S Bourbon, Whiskey Reviews, Whiskey Ratings, Cask Finishing, American Whiskey History, Whiskey Distillation, Craft Distilling, Spirits Education, Whiskey Enthusiasts, Tasting Notes, Bourbon Cocktails, Whiskey Flavors, Whiskey Community
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
>> Announcer (00:00):
On the next episode of Sip, suds and
smokes.
>> Brent (00:04):
Here's the whiskies we're going to be sipping today. So we
have the a Overholt straight rye
whiskey from Penelope. We have the
Penelope straight rye Tokai cask
finish. The Penelope Rio
honey and amber on a cast finish.
We have the Penelope 4 grain cast strength
bourbon batch 17. We
(00:26):
have the Ezra Brooks 99 port cask finish
Kentucky stray bourbon, the new Riff
8 year Kentucky straight bourbon from
hidden Barn. We have the Hidden Barn Kentucky straight bourbon
whiskey seven year. And for the last
one, we have Booker's Springfield batch
2024. 01. Yeah, I
(00:46):
know. We're doing batch 01 of 2024 and
it's already 2025.
>> Maury (00:51):
Better late than never.
>> Announcer (00:53):
We'll be right back after this break.
(01:17):
Brought to you almost live from the dude in the
basement studios. Why? Because that's where the
good stuff is. It sips suds and
smokes with your smoke and host the good old
boys.
(01:49):
And now it's sipping time.
>> Brent (01:56):
Hey. Yes. It's sippin time again. Welcome to this sips
episode where everything good in life is worth discuss.
As always, we are the best thing on at 2:00am
no argument. Uh, no argument from the peanut
crown.
>> Bob (02:10):
Yeah, they moved Hee Haw.
>> Maury (02:11):
Huh?
>> Bob (02:11):
So, yeah, we're the best.
>> Brent (02:13):
I loved heho. Huh?
>> Bob (02:14):
Yeah.
>> Brent (02:15):
Elvis's girlfriend was in Hee Haw.
>> Bob (02:17):
Yeah.
>> Brent (02:18):
And Kenny Rogers wife was in Hee Haw.
>> Bob (02:21):
Uh, all the talent was in Hee Haw.
>> Brent (02:24):
Your husband was in Hee Haw.
>> Bob (02:25):
Uh, yes.
>> Brent (02:26):
He was junior samples. Yeah. Yes. Yeah.
I miss he.
>> Bob (02:31):
Yeah.
>> Brent (02:32):
Yeah. Well, what are you gonna do?
Hey, man, I was like 12 years old. That was the most exciting
thing on TV at the time.
>> Bob (02:41):
They've got to be playing it somewhere.
>> Brent (02:43):
Oh, yeah. Uh, man, I see m commercials. They sell like box
sets of it.
>> Bob (02:46):
Yeah.
>> Maury (02:49):
Hey, boys.
>> Brent (02:51):
Oh, please. You were watching it too, New York boy, I don't want to hear it
from you.
>> Bob (02:55):
Oh, uh, those Daisy Dukes.
>> Brent (02:57):
Oh, yeah. That's as country as he was getting. Yeah.
Well, this is made man Bob. And joining me today, we've got a
small cast. So we've got made man Maury.
>> Maury (03:05):
Good morning, Bob. Excited to be here in the damp,
dank basement today.
>> Brent (03:10):
We've got a beautiful lineup and good old boy
Justin.
>> Bob (03:13):
Always a pleasure to be here, Bob in the
basement. Great lineup today. I'm
excited to get into it.
>> Brent (03:21):
Yeah, I can tell. Put your pants back on. Well, our sip
segments are all about wine and distilled spirits and
tea and coffee and pretty much anything Else you can sip.
And here's the whiskeys we're going to be sipping
today. So we have the A Overholt
straight rye whiskey from
Penelope. We have the Penelope straight rye
Tokai cask finish. The Penelope
(03:43):
Rio honey and Amber Ana cask
finish. We have the Penelope 4
grain cast strength bourbon batch
17. We have the
Ezra Brooks 99 port cast finish Kentucky
straight bourbon, the new Riff 8 year
Kentucky straight Bourbon from Hidden
Barn. We have the Hidden Barn Kentucky straight Bourbon whiskey
(04:06):
seven year. And for the last one,
we have Booker's Springfield batch
2024. 01.
Yeah, I know. We're. We're doing batch 01
of 2024 and it's already 2025. Sometimes
we get behind. What can we do?
>> Maury (04:22):
So better late than never.
>> Brent (04:25):
I'll drink Bookers in the. I might. It's like a Dr. Seuss
book. I will drink it here or there. I will drink it anywhere. I
will drink it in a box. I will drink it with a fox in a tree. In a
tree. Yes. You'll see. I will drink Bookers with anyone
you see. Yeah,
well, you know, we've had a zombie and he's crawled out of the grave
and he wants to eat your brain, but he wants to have some Bookers with you before.
(04:46):
Okay. Yeah, okay. Yeah, yeah, we can do that.
>> Bob (04:49):
Yeah.
>> Brent (04:50):
So let's get to our Simps ratings and we're gonna have
Justin, against our better judgment,
tell us about those.
All right, let's
go ahead and make our day.
One sip. Give me a glass
of water to wash out my
mouth.
(05:17):
Two sips. Nice.
But what else do you have?
Well, isn't that, uh, nice?
Three sips.
It's interesting. What was this
again?
You're a doctor. Shouldn't he be like on oxygen with
(05:38):
that?
>> Maury (05:38):
Yeah, I think he needs a little.
>> Brent (05:40):
Sounds a little winded.
Interesting.
I think he needs some nitrous oxide.
Always, uh, need nitrous.
Make him a little more interesting.
Yeah, that could work.
Four sips. Let's keep this
secret to ourselves. Pour me
another.
That's classified.
(06:01):
That's what he used to say to the kids at the school, you know?
Mhm.
My doctor said plead the fifth.
Five sips. Oh my.
I was unaware anything could be this good.
Oh my goodness.
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
(06:21):
It's not his worst, I'll give him that. It's not his
worst. I mean, we heard his worst,
so. Yeah, that's. That's. Yeah, it could be
a lot worse. We're going to
go to our first whiskey and we're Going to have Maury tell us all
about that one.
>> Maury (06:36):
Why, thank you, Bob. Overholt is one of the
longest standing u. S. Whiskey brands in American
history. Originally created in West
Overton, Pennsylvania and established in
1810 by its namesake,
Abraham Overholt. Today the
brand is produced by Freddie Noe, 8th
Generation Master Distiller of the Fred
(06:58):
B. No distillery in Claremont,
Kentucky. Their newest release, a
Overholt mongahela mash, is
a Pennsylvania style classic
rye. In a nod to their historic
roots, reintroducing consumers to one
of the first styles of American whiskey,
a Overholt uses the same mash
(07:20):
Bill Overholt founder Abraham
overholt used in 1810.
It's 80% rye grain and
20% soft malted barley.
>> Brent (07:30):
So a proper rye, not a, um, barely
legal rye.
>> Maury (07:35):
Correct. Thank you, Bob. A overhauled straight
rye whiskey is 47.5%
ABV or 95 proof
in is aged four years. It's got a
delightful burnished copper color
on the nose. There's caramel, subtle layers of
sandalwood and caraway. The palette
is viscous. It's luscious. There's some
(07:57):
brown butter, a little bit of clove, some
seasoned oak. It's mouth coating,
and then it's just got this really incredibly long
finish with lots of tobacco and
oak with a little hint of cocoa. I thought this
was delicious. And clearly a step
up from what most of us have had with regard
to old Overholt rye. This
(08:19):
reintroduction of their classic, uh,
style. Getting back to their roots, in my opinion, they've
knocked it out of the park. I think they did a beautiful job with this.
They've really brought back their old
traditional roots. And, um, I'm
thrilled. I think if you see it on the shelf, I don't know
how easy it will be to find, but I would say if you see
it, buy it. You won't regret it.
>> Brent (08:41):
Yeah, this is, this is definitely a
completely different animal from the standard old
overhaul. Um, and hell, for
20 bucks old overhaul, it's pretty good pour.
But this one is completely different
whiskey. Um, really,
really well done, I thought. I mean, for the money, I honestly
can't think of anything we're doing today that for the money
(09:03):
is better. Um,
you know, this is not an expensive whiskey. I want to say
40ish bucks, 40 to 45.
Um, but a completely different animal. It's,
it's got a great nose. I mean, that was the first thing I
noticed about it, was the nose.
Justin and I were going through it and
(09:23):
I just Kept saying the same thing. What a pretty nose.
>> Bob (09:26):
Yeah, right.
>> Brent (09:28):
Just fruity. It's just. There's
caramel, there's. The sandalwood is absolutely there,
but there's a little bit of a floral characteristic to it.
It's just. It's so nice. And
on the palette, it. It follows through. Um, you
know, there's definitely some clove. There's
definitely oak. There's. For me, there's. There's
(09:49):
a bit of. A little bit of
a. Like a dark caramel toffee
kind of note to it. There's a little bit of a mocha on the back of
the palate. On the finish, you definitely get
the cocoa and the tobacco notes. Um,
it's got a little bit of a spice to it on the back, like a little
hint of white pepper.
Um, you know, really well done.
(10:11):
I mean, really well done. And. And again, a really historic
distillery, which is the cool thing, you know. You know who used to own this
at one point? No. Henry Clay
Frick.
>> Bob (10:20):
Who's that?
>> Brent (10:21):
He was one of. He was. He worked for, uh, Andrew
Carnegie.
>> Bob (10:25):
Oh, wow.
>> Brent (10:25):
And, like, he was the guy who, like, when they
had the homestead strike and they sent in guys and it turned
into, like, a whole massacre and everything, you know, he was. He was the
hitman for Carnegie.
>> Bob (10:35):
Oh, wow.
>> Brent (10:36):
And they had some. There was some club in, like, rural
Pennsylvania for, like, trillionaires, and they all
belonged to it. And, uh, they had a big lake.
And I remember watching on a history channel, it was raining and raining
as bad storm came, and they said, oh, this dam's gonna fail. And he's like,
ah, the dam failed and washed down and like,
you know, basically drowned in an entire town. He. He's not a
(10:57):
nice guy, but he actually owned this. It
was one of. He was an ancestor of Overhaul,
so I'm surprised.
>> Bob (11:04):
Not on the billboard.
>> Brent (11:06):
Yeah, exactly.
>> Maury (11:07):
But when did, uh, Beam acquire them?
>> Brent (11:10):
Oh, years ago. I think that was. I think it
was. I think it was when Beam. I think when
National Distillers dissolved, I think
Beam plucked a few brands from them, and I think this was one of the
ones they got. Like, Old Granddad was National Distillers. And I believe
this was also. I think this was also National Distillers.
I could be wrong. I'm. I'm sure if I'm wrong that we'll get
a hundred emails about it now. How you suck and you don't know what you're
(11:33):
doing, so. Because that's how it happens.
What do you think, Justin?
>> Bob (11:37):
So on the nose, it was like, uh, running
me a juicy fruit and tangerines.
A little bit of toffee on the
palate. I got animal crackers and
honey bunches.
>> Brent (11:49):
Of oats I gotta give him. He's right. There is a bit of a
juicy fruity to it. There's a little jackfruit in there.
>> Bob (11:55):
Yeah.
>> Brent (11:55):
Good for you. Look at you, you little overachiever,
you.
>> Bob (11:59):
And this doesn't drink like 95 proof
to me. It drinks like an 80
proof. Um, I don't
know, I could probably go on the porch with this, but I
probably won't get out of the porch for a long time.
>> Brent (12:13):
The thing that surprises me is how good it is. It's only four years
old.
>> Bob (12:16):
Yeah, I agree.
>> Maury (12:17):
It's surprisingly mature for a four year old. The
other thing I would say is that Old Overhaul's a nice
cocktail rye. It brings a little spice and heat
to a cocktail. I'm not sure I will put this in a cocktail
as quick as I.
>> Brent (12:29):
Would just sit this one all day. No, regular
Old Overhaul is a great base for a
cocktail, really. I mean, a solid whiskey and has been for
many years. But this one. No, don't. No, please
don't.
>> Bob (12:42):
Pair this with Maduro cigars if you're a cigar
smoker.
>> Brent (12:45):
Pair this with a rack of ribs if you're. Oh, yeah,
well, anything if you're a human.
>> Maury (12:50):
Anything.
>> Bob (12:51):
Yeah, we don't support vegans,
so.
>> Maury (12:54):
Yeah, I'm really digging the channel and I, I think for
the price, this is going to be an excellent value.
>> Brent (13:00):
Yeah.
>> Maury (13:00):
But it's a delicious whiskey at any price. I think they did a really nice
job overhauling this brand and,
uh, I loved it.
>> Brent (13:08):
Yeah, a fantastic whiskey. So we're going to be giving the a
Overholt straight rye whiskey. A well, well
deserved four sips.
That's classified.
I mean, just again, for the money, this is
one of the best deals I've seen all year.
So we'll be back.
Hey, and we're back and we just finished talking about the A
(13:29):
Overholt straight rye whiskey. Uh, we gave that
a well deserved four sips. If you see that on a shelf, definitely
grab one. For the money, you're not going to get a better bourbon for
sure. So we're going to move on to our next
whiskey. Um, and this is from the folks at
Penelope. So Penelope was founded in 2018
by Mike Paladini and Danny Police.
(13:49):
They were friends and neighbors who wanted to create an approachable
bourbon for folks to enjoy and share. And the
brand was Named after Mike's, uh, newly born
daughter. Um, so the first one that we have from
them, because we have a couple, is the Penelope straight
rye Tokai cask finish. It's 53%
ABV, 106 proof, 8 years
old. It's a 95.5 Rye.
(14:16):
And this is, this is the
second release of the Penelope Bourbon Tokai finish.
This year's release was distilled in Lawrenceburg, Indiana
at mgp. MGP is now the owner of the brand. They,
they basically, uh, purchased Penelope.
So now it's owned by them, which, you
know, it's a growing brand and they're
sourcing it from you. Why not? So this one
(14:39):
is aged for a full eight years as opposed to six years on the
original lease. Uh, the Tokai is a late
harvest wine from Hungary. If you've never had it,
it was once dubbed the king of
wines by King, uh, Louis XIV or
Wine of Kings. Wine of Kings.
And this release is part of Penelope's
(14:59):
Cooper series, uh, which also includes
the rose cast finish, Valencia and
Rio. So
let's take a sip and see what we think. So
the color, it's, it's
got a slight reddish, almost like
a, like a burnt reddish copper color to
(15:19):
it. On the nose.
If you dig deep, you can abs. You can actually, you can
absolutely pick out the Tokai. There's that raisiny
sweetness to it.
A little bit of, uh, a little bit of almond, but it's, uh,
(15:40):
a little bit of brioche too.
And on the palate, let's see.
M. On the
palate,
there's a little bit of a orangey note
to it. A little bit orange zest,
light caramel.
(16:03):
It's not, not cloyingly sweet, which was what I
had expected since it had been in Tokai
cask. Um, which tells me that they were paying
attention. They didn't overdo it. Usually when
folks just throw something into a cask and just let it
sit for months and months without checking, that's when you run into
problems like Ambarana. That's one,
that's, that's the wood of the day right now.
(16:25):
And so many people overdo it. Um, but this
one, they, they got the flavor, but they didn't get the sticky
out of it, which I, which I kind of, I'm happy about.
Um, on the finish,
there's a little bit of, a
little bit of a cigar box, tobacco barn kind of to
it. And you can absolutely. I
(16:47):
mean, the wine notes are there. I mean you're, you're getting the wine
Notes, it's just not cloyingly sticky sweet. So I think
this one's very well done. I think they, they, they. You know, it's
so, so many folks will cask finish
to differentiate themselves, but they just pour it in a
cask and then pour it out of a cast. They don't. It's not that hard.
Just go back and check it once in a while. You know, when it starts, when
(17:08):
it's getting to the point where it's, oh, that's getting to be too much. You might want to take
it out. And they don't seem to do that. So I think the
guys, Penelope, are doing a good job. What you think, Maury?
>> Maury (17:17):
Yeah, I would agree with you. I, uh, think in some, uh,
I think you nailed it. Uh, very nicely done.
Um, you know, essentially a lot of their stuff is,
uh, finesse and finishing.
So if you want some flavor and
some enhancement to the whiskey without dumping in flavor man
packets, you know, we all know that cast strength
(17:37):
finishing has been a beautiful, natural way to
add dimension to the whiskey.
And as we all know, sometimes those things can
steal the show and become the dominant star
and you lose the whiskey as the star. I think the Penelope's done
a nice job creating a quote
unquote flavored whiskey, meaning they're
flavoring with wood and cask, but in a
(18:00):
balanced way. So the whiskey is still the star.
And I agree with you, it comes out with a nice
little hint of sweetness, little hint of a lot of orange
zest and, um, little black
cherry and tobacco. It's very pleasant. It's
very easy drinking. It's, ah, it's a beautiful
place to start your whiskey journey. It, uh, could be an
(18:20):
aperitif, it could be a digestive. Uh, I think it's a
very nice whiskey. It's well made and,
uh, it's not traditional. It's not a
traditional 10 year bourbon. Cast strength
bookers. But for what it is, I think it's very well
done with finesse and style and
balance.
>> Brent (18:37):
Yeah. And it's again and again. It's like we've said it a
thousand times on the show for the last 10 or 12 years.
It's, you know, it's Swiss cheese. You're filling the holes. You're not
trying to cover the wall with paint, you're trying to fill in the holes.
And I think they've done a good job. And that's.
It seems so easy, it seems so
logical, but so many people don't do it. So
(18:58):
many people overdo it on cast Finishing.
So, you know, I don't have a Rick house with a bunch of
cast sitting, so I can't tell you. I can't tell you
from personal experience if it's easier. It's hard, but I mean, logically it
seems like it's not that damn hard to go in and check it every
couple of days, you know, or once a week or something.
>> Bob (19:14):
Especially if you're thirsty.
>> Brent (19:16):
I'm always thirsty.
>> Bob (19:17):
I know.
>> Maury (19:18):
We're born thirsty.
>> Brent (19:19):
If it wasn't for the whiskey, those voices in my head would just.
Never mind what you think, Justin.
>> Bob (19:25):
Well, I'm, uh, going to do this show till I get the second
career of checking those casks, um, for
them. Because, you know, I'm a giver.
>> Brent (19:32):
I got, like, said that before. You're. You're definitely a giver. They said
that about you, uh, during COVID You were a giver.
>> Bob (19:38):
Yeah, I gave a lot of.
>> Maury (19:39):
Yeah, I always thought you were a receiver.
>> Brent (19:41):
Yeah. And then that. That venereal disease clinic
said you were giving. Never mind.
>> Bob (19:45):
Yeah, so this kind of reminded me of like,
chocolate, a little chocolate liqueur,
things, you know, in. With a little liquor in the
middle before I got to graduate and
just have the liquor without the chocolate in it.
And I also got amaretto and cognac on
the nose, uh, on the
palate. It reminded me of, like that
(20:07):
first hit of Swisher Sweets when
you smoke, you know, a cigar
when you're, uh, you know, on the younger side
smoking cigars. And I also got Mexican
Fanta.
>> Brent (20:19):
Which one?
>> Bob (20:22):
There's more than one? The orange.
>> Brent (20:24):
Orange, okay. The orange. Okay.
>> Bob (20:25):
Oh, I didn't know there was more than one.
>> Brent (20:27):
No, they got grape and all the different flavors.
>> Maury (20:29):
I didn't get any Mexican.
>> Brent (20:30):
Yeah.
>> Bob (20:31):
Oh, okay. I had no idea. All right, I'm excited
now. Anyway, back to the whiskey and on
the finish, I got, like, bright red cocktail
cherries. And it was. I enjoyed
it.
>> Brent (20:43):
Yeah, I definitely. The cherry is definitely there.
Yeah, this one was nice. I think they did a good
job. So we're going to be, uh, giving the
Penelope straight ride toy cast finish.
A well deserved three sips.
Interesting.
So that's going to take us to our next one
and we're going to have Justin tell us all about
(21:06):
that one.
>> Bob (21:07):
So I get to talk about Penelope Rio
honey and Ambarana cask finish straight
bourbon whiskey. It's 49%
alcohol by volume or 98 proof.
It's made of 74%
corn, 16% wheat,
7% rye, and 3%
malted barley. Um, the color
(21:29):
of this is
kind of like a light, uh, brown,
dark copper color.
It's the honey hits you like right off the
bat. And it does
remind me of the cinnamon rolls. You get like a Holiday
Inn before you start your day.
(21:52):
Um, I also got
like, ah, brioche bun.
>> Brent (22:01):
Allspice. M.
>> Bob (22:04):
It was very rich, sweet,
syrupy experience. And the finish
on it,
it's very sweet and it lasts
for a lot longer than you think it
would. And then the sweetness
finally fades off and then you get wood, and then it's
(22:25):
over. What'd you think, Maury? You got wood?
>> Brent (22:27):
I'm glad you're sitting over there. Wow.
>> Bob (22:29):
Right?
>> Maury (22:31):
Thank God he's wearing pants today.
>> Bob (22:35):
Nothing you haven't seen before, Doc.
>> Maury (22:37):
No. Uh, you know, this is just
smaller. This is,
ah, I think this could be a polarizing whiskey.
Uh, it's delightful. It's delicious for what it is. Let's judge
it for what's in the glass. I agree with you on the color. The
nose is definitely a lot of sweetness. Honey, cinnamon
rolls, etc. Etc. Palette,
I would agree. Gingerbread, honey, baking
(22:59):
spice, brioche.
Um, it's, it's a very sweet whiskey.
Uh, I enjoyed it. But in the right
settings, this would be a beautiful nightcap
as your dessert. Or with a subtle
dessert that's not too sweet, such as a sour, uh,
cream cake or butter cake. This would go nicely.
Or a very dark 90 and
(23:21):
cocoa. Bittersweet chocolate.
>> Brent (23:26):
Yeah.
>> Maury (23:27):
Uh, I think it's definitely not an
all day sipper. It shows how extreme you can go with
finishing whiskeys without putting in
added flavors. This is purely done with, uh,
casks and wood. Cooking with wood, as we
say. And they've done really some interesting stuff, but it's
out there. It's at one extreme. And that
doesn't make it bad. It just means that it's not going to be
(23:50):
traditional. It's not going to be for everybody. But for what it is
and what it was meant to be. They did a beautiful job.
>> Brent (23:56):
Yeah, I agree. It's, it's. This isn't the
one I'm going to be drinking by the pool.
Um, but wow.
For after dinner, it's neat to have on your
shelf. It's initially or for
dessert. I think this is fantastic.
They, they nailed it on the ambarana. Most people
overdo amber on, and it's real easy to overdo on
(24:18):
piranha. Um, they got just enough to where
you're really getting it, but it's not hitting you over the head.
Yeah, Usually with Ambron I get it's like that
blinding cinnamon roll. But this one,
because I don't know if it's because of the honey barrel that they also
use. But this one, this one.
The first tasting note I got is gingerbread man.
I mean this thing is. It just whacks you in the face with
(24:41):
gingerbread, which is not something, which
is not something you get in your typical average bourbon.
So that in and of itself I'm
already happy about. Um,
but it's. Yeah. I mean the nose,
there's a little bit of the cinnamon pastry in there.
Not real heavy. Like uh, a lot of
(25:03):
overly done ambarana is.
It's more pastry than cinnamon.
A, um, little bit of dark honey. But that
gingerbread, hold on.
>> Maury (25:15):
Mhm.
>> Brent (25:17):
That gingerbread is just right there, right up
front, which I dig. I love
gingerbread. There's, you know, there's the baking
spice in it. It's
mostly, for me, it's mostly front palate,
um, back palette, not as front palette,
mainly mid palate, back palette, not as much. But
(25:37):
I think this is a really, really good experiment.
I think, I think that this one worked out really well.
And when I saw it I went, I don't know
how that's going to go. Um,
again, it's not. Also not, it's not sticky sweet.
The sweetness is absolutely there but it's not cloying.
Like you know, somebody handed me this and I wasn't having a nice
(25:58):
dessert. I'd still enjoy it. Whereas a lot of
dessert ish whiskeys are just too
sticky. This one, I think they did a really good job.
>> Bob (26:06):
It would have been so easy to overdo it.
>> Brent (26:08):
Yeah.
>> Bob (26:09):
And they didn't.
>> Brent (26:10):
Yeah. I mean this job guys. Yeah, this one was very
good. So we're going to be giving the Penelope Rio,
uh, honey and Amber Anish straight bourbon
whiskey a uh, well deserved. Three
sips.
Interesting.
So that's going to take us to our last one from
Penelope and we're going to have Maury tell us about that one.
>> Maury (26:32):
Why thank you, Bob. Our last Penelope
whiskey is the Penelope 4 grain cask strength
bourbon batch 17. It comes
in at 58% ABV or
116 proof. It is non age
stated. It is 74% corn,
16% wheat, 7%
rye and 3% malted barley. It
(26:54):
is non chill filtered. This expression is a blend
of three different bourbons comprised of four
grains, corn, wheat and
rye and malted barley. The whiskeys are
aged four to six years in barrels with a number
four char and number Two charred
barrel heads. So
(27:14):
this whiskey is a very similar color to the others. A
nice light burnished copper on the nose.
There's lots of really sweet caramel, hints of maple
syrups, and just a sort of candied
sweetness. The nose is definitely much
sweeter than you'd, um, than the palate.
And so the palate is a little bit contrasty to what you
get on the nose. The nose promises this just
(27:36):
syrupy sweet nectar. And then you
drink it down and you get syrupy. Nice
mouthfeel with some brown sugar, some caramel,
a little bit of barrel char, butterscotch, creme brulee,
cinnamon, and just a hint of maple syrup. So not
nearly as sweet on the palate as the nose
promised,
(27:58):
but it is mouth coating. The finish is definitely
cinnamony, a hint of spice. It
lingers. Um, there's even a little bit of heat on the
finish. It kind of heats up on the very back end. There's just a little
bit of smoke and fire that kind of
persists. So medium to long finish. I like
this. I thought this whiskey was a step up from the other
two. It's a little bit more traditional than what
(28:21):
you'd expect from a classic bourbon. Than the cask
finish with the Tokai, um, or the
Ambarana. I liked it very much. I thought it was balanced,
beautifully made, go in the right direction. I'd love to see
what else they have in the future, but this is. I'm happy with this for
today. Justin. What?
>> Brent (28:37):
Is it true that we have to bring our own water?
>> Maury (28:39):
We got a little rule back home. If it's brown, drink it
down.
>> Brent (28:43):
Mm, mhm.
>> Bob (28:44):
So this was a fun spirit. I
definitely got like that great
kerosene lamp burning smell that I
like.
>> Maury (28:53):
Um, I'm glad you like
it because I find that smell obnoxious.
>> Bob (28:58):
I love that smell.
>> Brent (28:59):
He's huffing brake cleaner out of a paper bag. Look at
him.
>> Bob (29:03):
Yeah, well, you know,
grow up. Plantation. What do you want?
>> Maury (29:09):
So you grew up on a plantation?
>> Bob (29:11):
Implantation.
>> Brent (29:12):
Yeah, same thing.
>> Bob (29:13):
Same thing. There was like, I, uh, think
we.
>> Maury (29:16):
Should change the name of your town. It's offensive.
>> Bob (29:19):
Yeah, they tried that. Didn't go anywhere.
>> Brent (29:22):
Attitude, sir.
>> Bob (29:23):
Didn't go anywhere.
So it's just a really nice balance
of sweet and wood. And
the finish was
balanced. It's pretty cool. They took
four different bourbons or three different
bourbons, all these different ingredients,
and they didn't chill filter it.
(29:45):
And wow. I don't know, they. They
killed it.
>> Brent (29:50):
Chill filtration is the devil.
>> Bob (29:51):
It is. And I'm glad they just left it. Let it be.
>> Brent (29:54):
Yeah.
>> Bob (29:55):
I just let you do the better.
>> Brent (29:57):
I, and I know there are people out there who
do like targeted filtration, chill filtration, you
know, to take little things, not just bulk.
But I just, I just don't like
chill filtration. Leave the fatty acids in there. They're
in there for a reason. God wanted them there.
>> Bob (30:13):
I think it's healthier.
>> Brent (30:15):
Yeah, I'll go with that. It's healthier.
>> Bob (30:18):
Less processed.
>> Brent (30:19):
Well, it's healthier for everybody else because when I drink a good whiskey I'm less
hostile. So
yeah, this one's, this one's lovely. It's just
maple syrup and like sweet
sticky pastry on the nose.
On the palate.
(30:39):
Mhm.
Brown sugar. On the exhale, the
barrel char really comes out.
>> Bob (30:46):
Yeah.
>> Brent (30:47):
You know, you don't get it on the swallow, but on the exhale that barrel char
just leaps out. There's butterscotch in there.
There's um,
the baking spices definitely leap forward
and it's got, it's got a good mouthfeel to it. It's
coating.
Mhm. You know, top
(31:08):
and bottom of the palate, sides of the mouth, under the
tongue, you know, gives you that viscosity
that you know, a lighter whiskey or an overly filtered
whiskey would uh, not have.
So I think they did a good job on this
one. Really enjoyed that one. So
what do you guys think? I think we're
(31:29):
going to be giving the Penelope four grain cast
strength bourbon batch number 17,
a well deserved four sips.
That's classified.
So that leads us on into our next whiskey.
We're getting ready to run out of time, but I'll start reading about
it. So this is the Ezra Brooks 99
port cast finish Kentucky straight bourbon.
(31:51):
49. 49.5%
ABV 99 proof,
78 corn, 10% rye and
12% malt. This is the latest addition to the
Ezra Brooks brand family. The port
wine cast finish was finished in port cast for
six months. So
colors of uh,
(32:13):
sort of a dark to mid to dark
straw. I would expected a little
bit more color from the portcast. But we'll
be back. Hey. And we're back
and we were just starting to discuss the Ezra Brooks
99 portcast finish. So again,
49.49.5% ABV
99 proof, 78 corn, 10
(32:36):
rye and 12 malt. So a
lighter color than I would expected from a port cast
finish whiskey. But it also, I don't know what
type of port it was. I don't know if it's ruby port.
Yeah. So
we'll see. But on the nose,
definitely get a nice caramel note.
(33:00):
I can just get a hint of
the sort of the grapeiness of the wine.
Get a little bit of, a little bit of
barrel char and a
very, uh, a very, very clean, like, fresh
sawn oak. But that's very, very,
very deep. You've got to really get in there to dig it
(33:21):
out. And on the palate, let's
see
on the palette, lighter than I expected. I was expecting a little
bit more heavy with the port cast, but,
yeah, a very, very light, um,
a light caramel with a little bit of barrel char coming
(33:43):
through. Almost like a, like
the brulee on the top of a creme brulee.
A little bit of vanilla, slight bit
of butterscotch. Not getting
a lot of the port cask influence on the palate. I got it more on the
nose. What'd you think, Justin?
>> Bob (34:01):
So this would be
the bourbon, I would imagine, Agent 99 from
Get Smart Drinking. It's, like, light,
approachable on the
nose.
>> Brent (34:13):
Should we get in the cone of silence to discuss?
>> Bob (34:18):
On the nose, I got, like, caramel
brown sugar, you know,
like cream of Wheat on the palette.
It was sweet, woody.
The finish was malty. I don't think the port
was readily isolatable
or identifiable, but I think it infused the
(34:39):
whole thing.
>> Brent (34:40):
I think you're right about the malt. The malt, definitely. I, I, I miss
that now. I'm still tasting it. I mean, it's got a pretty good
finish on it. Um, the malt leaps forward.
>> Bob (34:48):
But yeah, I mean, it's a
good dessert cordial.
Or if you have a beautiful person
come over and they don't drink a
lot of bourbon, start them off with.
>> Brent (35:01):
A beautiful person here.
>> Bob (35:03):
Well, that's never if one came over.
In theory, the only
way a beautiful.
>> Brent (35:09):
Person is coming down here is if Brent kidnaps
them, rolls them up on
a carpet, and drags them down the stairs to the basement. Yeah,
yeah, yeah, not so
much.
>> Bob (35:22):
I don't think he's got that kind of ambition.
>> Brent (35:25):
Nah, I don't think so either.
>> Bob (35:26):
Yeah, yeah, we score a good bottle.
>> Brent (35:28):
But what you think?
>> Maury (35:30):
Well, I generally like the stuff coming out of there,
but, uh, honestly, this one was a little bit of a
disappointment for me. My, my first impression was just,
meh, it's just there.
Um, I, I think it's, there's nothing
inherently wrong with it, but there's nothing inherently great about
it. Um, I just was a little bit
underwhelmed. I think they've done better stuff. I, uh, didn't add any
(35:51):
water. What did you think when
you added water? Did you find any improvement?
>> Brent (35:56):
It didn't raise it. You know, it. The
palette didn't come forward, but it, to me, it sort
of blended it out a little bit more evenly.
>> Bob (36:04):
What is this water that you speak of?
>> Brent (36:06):
It's a thing that fish fornicate in.
>> Bob (36:08):
Oh, that.
>> Brent (36:09):
Yeah.
>> Maury (36:09):
Okay. I got a hint of young corn on it,
and I really didn't like the youngness to it.
Uh, I just felt like it was underdeveloped.
And it just. I'm
sorry to say, it just. Just didn't hit me. Well today.
>> Brent (36:24):
Well, not all of them are 100%, you know, hit out
of the park, so what can you do? It's,
uh, again, nothing wrong with it,
but it was well made. Yeah.
Not hit. Not hitting everybody, you know, on all four
cylinders. So we're going to give the Ezra Brooks 99 port
cask finish Kentucky straight bourbon, uh, three
sips.
>> Maury (36:45):
I think I wanted to add one little thing about port cask
finishing. You know, we're really big about talking about the types of sherry
casks, and we're interested in talking about
Madeira casks occasionally
and similar. But the reality of it is, uh, there
are at least five types of Madeira and there's at least
a handful of types of port. And so, as Bob
pointed out, is it. Was it a ruby port? Was it a vintage port? Was it a
(37:07):
tawny port?
>> Bob (37:09):
Uh, is it a white port?
>> Brent (37:10):
Right.
>> Maury (37:11):
Uh, I think we. One of the things that I'm hopeful will be
more transparent in the future is what type of port
cask. Because saying a port cask is akin to saying
it was a whiskey cask. We finished our honey in it.
>> Brent (37:22):
I don't think they're hiding it. I just. I just didn't have the information.
I'm sure if. I know.
>> Maury (37:26):
I don't think they're hiding it. I just think that it would be nice
to. As consumers become more educated
about. Oh, yeah, a cask finishing. Well, they're like a
really finish.
>> Brent (37:35):
Never enough information. Honestly, every bottle should come in
a little box or a tube with a, uh,
the data sheet in it. QR code.
And sometimes we. Sometimes I ask, you know, hey, if you have data
sheets on the products you're sending us to try on the show, please send
them. I'm not telling you I'm going to read everything that's on that
sheet. But the more information we have, the
better, you know, And I Don't care how geeky it gets. I don't
(37:58):
care. If you tell me the corn came from this farm on this street,
I send it to us. Ah, you know, I, we,
we always want as much as we can get, so.
Right.
>> Maury (38:07):
But, and that's my point is that it
would enable the consumer to hone in
on, you know, I really like tawny port
finished whiskey as opposed to a ruby port
finish whiskey, which is completely different.
>> Brent (38:19):
You make a more informed decision.
>> Bob (38:20):
Of course, maybe they use more than one kind of pork cast too,
and blended them together.
>> Maury (38:25):
For example, we all know that a PX or Pedro
Jimenez is the sweetest, most cloying type of
sherry. Dramatically different from Fino
and Amontillado sherry. Completely
different. And so I think that
as people become more sophisticated, they'll be interested in
fine tuning their palate to whiskies that are finished in and
(38:45):
woods and cast they like.
>> Brent (38:46):
Well, let's go to our next whiskey. So we're gonna have Justin
tell us about that one.
>> Bob (38:51):
So we're gonna talk about new riff 8 year
Kentucky straight bourbon. It's
50% alcohol by volume or 100
proof. This 8 year old whiskey
is New Rift distilling's oldest bourbon yet
released. The whiskey is non chill filtered
and hasn't met. Yeah, I know.
And has a mashable 65% corn,
(39:13):
30% rye and 5%
malted barley. So it's a high rye rye.
While known for their commitment to bottled and bond
standards, New Riff made the difficult but
necessary decision to waive the status for this
release to be able to focus on a
wider release despite meeting all the
(39:34):
other requirements of a bonded whiskey.
Due to the comparatively small production from the
earliest years of New Riff, this release
blends bourbons from two distilling seasons and
aged a minimum of eight years.
So the nose on this
one was like, ah, lovely. I got like
(39:54):
brioche, I got new car
smell and marshmallow
on the palette was
woody caramel, more
marshmallow. The finish was
nicely balanced and the note that popped out
at me was cedar. How about you,
Maury? What'd you think?
>> Maury (40:15):
Well, I, uh, would like to say that this
whiskey improved with time, patience
and oxygen. When I first poured this whiskey,
I was pretty underwhelmed. It's
definitely matured and developed quite a bit in the
glass and I think oxygen and patience
have done it well and will reward you.
(40:36):
Um, I agree with pretty much all the tasting notes that you said.
I thought it had a beautiful mouthfeel. I love the Viscosity
to it. To me that was its greatest asset more than
any of the flavors was the viscosity. And the
mouthfeel felt really nice. Um, I think it's a
beautiful effort. I think new rifts is coming has come a long way.
I think they're continuing to go in the right direction,
um, by inner technicality that they couldn't call
(40:58):
it bonded even though it's 100 proof. Uh, but
the fact is that it's, the proof is right.
It's well made, it's going the right direction. I think you're
going to only see better and better things coming out of New Riff
moving forward as their stocks continue to
mature. Bob, what do you think?
>> Brent (41:15):
I, uh, thought it was delicious. I mean on the nose
I get toffee brown butter and I, I got
the cedar chest that you got on the nose.
That's definitely there, your grandmother's cedar chest
full of, you know, linens and things and,
and on the palate it's um,
dark, burnt, dark burnt toffee. To me.
(41:36):
Um, it's got a great peppery spiciness to it
on the tongue, um, a little bit of char on
the exhale. But again, what Maury said,
great mouthfeel, really great mouthfeel. And
that's, you know, that, that's hard to do. I mean that, that
shows you that, you know, you got somebody running the still that knows what they're doing.
>> Bob (41:54):
It's non chill filtering for you. They'll take that mouthfeel right
out.
>> Brent (41:57):
Takes all that fat out. So yeah, I mean
extremely, I think extremely well done.
Um, you know, definitely a good whiskey.
So we're going to be giving the new Riff
Kentucky straight bourbon eight
year, uh, well deserved. Three sips.
Interesting.
So that's going to take us to the next one which is Hidden
(42:18):
Barn Kentucky straight bourbon whiskey, 7 years old,
54.7% ABV
109.4 proof.
So Hidden Barn owned by the Neely family and
blended in partnership with master blender Jackie
Zan. Uh, this is the 7 year old
expression age 5 years in 24 month
(42:38):
open air season barrels and then barreled a
new charred French oak barrels for an additional two
years and
I definitely get the char I I the French oak
leaps out. That's
100% the nose on this.
I don't know if it's limousine or trunk
(43:01):
a I I don't know what, where the
French oak came from but it's definitely there's, you
know, you're definitely getting that
French oak effect on it
on the palate. Hold on.
Mhm.
On the palette, there's dark
(43:22):
caramel, burnt toffee.
A lot of um, it's not as,
it's not so much the spice. Is that that darkness
of the black pepper. It's not that burning spice,
but it's that, that darkness of the black pepper.
I think it was probably the best thing I've had from Hidden Barn so far.
I think this one was well done. What'd you think, Justin?
>> Bob (43:44):
I wish I could get the barrel that
they made this in, take it apart
and grill salmon on it or throw
it in my fire pit because it's just got the most gorgeous
wood smell I've smelt in two
years. And I also got like cinnamon, ah,
candle wax on the nose.
(44:04):
Um, on the palette, it was
sweet, kind of like,
um, the middle of an
atomic fireball kind of texture to
it, um, where the heat's worn
off. And on the finish I got
like sweet in the center and wood
on the sides of my palette. And I, I
(44:27):
like this a lot, but I really want the
barrel. So if you go send the barrel to me, that would be great.
Guys.
>> Brent (44:32):
What'd you think, Mark?
>> Maury (44:34):
Another one that I thought was well made. Going the right
direction. Uh, it's
um, shocking that it's, ah, seven years
old because it still tastes a little bit young to me.
Um, I get a lot of wood. To me, it's been almost
a little over oaked. It's a little off balance.
>> Brent (44:51):
To me it's that second, that second barrel.
So you know, you're, you've got five years in one barrel and then you're
putting it into a new barrel.
>> Maury (44:58):
Right. And so it's, it's, it's very oak
forward. Uh, the French oak definitely adds a nice
dimension. But I, uh, in my
opinion they, they've gone just a little bit too far
with the over oak and perhaps backing it
off a little bit on the front end on the American
oak or a little bit on the back end with the French oak.
(45:18):
A nice whiskey. Nothing inherently wrong, no
flaws, balanced. Um,
but to me, just slightly too much
oak.
>> Brent (45:27):
Yeah. Palates vary. What you going to
do? We're going to give the hidden bar and Kentucky straight
bourbon whiskey seven year, three sips.
Interesting.
So that brings us to our last one. We're going to have Maury
tell us about that one.
>> Maury (45:41):
Okay, so, uh, the last whiskey. Thank you,
Bob. Is the, uh, Booker's Springfield
batch 24 1.
20241 62.25% ABV or
124.5 proof. The first
Booker's batch of 2020 of 2024
is called the Springfield batch to honor my Booker
knows hometown of Springfield,
(46:03):
Kentucky. He worked on many farms when he was
young and growing up. From the hay ah fields to the
tobacco patches, this batch is made up of
five production dates stored in four different
aging warehouses. The age is seven years, seven
months and eight days. Breakdown of barrel
storage for Booker Springfield batch is as follows.
(46:24):
17% came from the 5th floor of 9 story
warehouse G. 7% came from the 4th floor of
9 story warehouse Hill. 31% came from the
5th floor Of 7 story warehouse
Z and 45% came from the 4th floor
Of 7 story warehouse 3.
The color is a deep, dark burnished
copper. This whiskey's got a beautiful nose.
(46:47):
With all the classic creme brulee and
toffee spices on the palette. It's beautiful.
It's mouth coating, it's viscous, it's got a
very long finish. This whiskey is
fantastic. It's delicious, it's
wonderful. But it is completely
different than any bookers I've had in the last several
years. It is a complete new direction for
(47:09):
Bookers, but nonetheless, comparing
it to itself within the glass, it's
fantastic. Comparing it to previous vintages of
Booker's, it's going to be slightly different. To me, this one
has a very special spot in my heart. I grew up in Springfield, New
Jersey. Almost every state in the country has a
Springfield. But when I saw Springfield batch I needed to have
it and I knew that it would need it to be great. And as it turns
(47:32):
out, uh, I believe whiskey advocates given
it number, uh, three or four whiskey of the year this year.
So this whiskey has been, uh, highly touted and rated by lots
of people and we are privileged to try it today.
Justin, what did you think?
>> Bob (47:44):
So on the nose it was kind of grassy, corny,
caramel mint on the palate,
minty and sweet. I got kind of a cheese
grits thing in the middle and the finish was pleasant
and minty, but I really enjoyed it.
What a different Booker's, uh, bookers
is.
>> Brent (48:02):
Usually that baseball bat to the
head, you know that it just whacks the hell out
of you like a George D. Stagg. This one is different. This one
is more subtle. I mean the flavor is
huge. The pallet is huge, the nose
is.
>> Maury (48:17):
And it's gotten better with air. It's just blowing
just.
>> Brent (48:20):
It just continues to evolve. There's so many layers to it,
but it's not that brute that it normally
is. So much more finesse.
>> Bob (48:28):
Yeah.
>> Brent (48:29):
This one is just fantastic. Hold on.
>> Maury (48:31):
Uh.
>> Brent (48:33):
Mhm.
God, this is good. Absolutely
fantastic. So five, we're gonna
give the Booker Springfield batch
2024 Dash 1A. Ah, well
deserved. Five sips.
Oh my goodness.
Yeah, yeah,
(48:55):
yeah. Lord, it's just.
It, it's, it's still big. That's the funny thing. It's still
big, but it's not, it's not hitting you over the booker's big.
It's not, it's not that brood. Yeah, that's
fantastic. So that's all the time
we have for today. Want to thank everybody for joining us. Thank
you, Maury.
>> Maury (49:13):
Thank you, Bob. It's been a delicious morning in the
basement.
>> Brent (49:16):
And thank you, Justin.
>> Bob (49:18):
Thank you. What a way to start the year, guys.
>> Brent (49:20):
Yeah. This doesn't suck, does it?
>> Bob (49:23):
Yes.
>> Maury (49:23):
Happy 25.
>> Brent (49:24):
Well for sip says and smokes, this made man. Bob, thank you for
joining us. Remember, life is too short to drink bad whiskey.
Unfortunately, today that's not something we had to
do so especially with this
bookers. So
good. So different, but so good.
>> Maury (49:41):
Lovely.
>> Brent (49:43):
Ah. Uh, just wish they'd send a 750.
>> Maury (49:46):
Yeah, right.
>> Announcer (49:49):
We hope you enjoyed this episode. If
you're listening to us online, do yourself a favor
and tap, just tap it in the subscribe
button.
>> Brent (49:58):
You've been a little tappy. Tap, tap,
taparoo.
>> Announcer (50:01):
The easiest way to listen to our show is to ask Siri,
Alexa, Google, Uncle Larry or whoever it is that
talks to you on your phone play podcast. Sip, Suds
and Smokes. We love your feedback and you
can reach us at info at sipsuds and smokes
dot com. Our tasting notes flow out on Twitter
and Instagram with our handle
ipsudsandsmokes. And our Facebook page
(50:23):
is always buzzing with lots of news. You'll
also be able to interact with the thousands,
millions and
millions of other fans on those social media
platforms. Do us a favor, take the time
to rate this episode. If you're listening to us online, that's a
big help to us and we get to see your feedback as
well. Come back, join us for another
(50:45):
episode and keep on sipping.
This has been a one tan hand production of, uh,
Sip Suds and Smokes, a program devoted to
the appreciation of some of the finer slices of
(51:06):
life. From the dude in the basement Studios, your
host, the good old boys. We'll see you all next time.
On the next episode of Sip, suds and
smokes.
>> Brent (00:04):
Here's the whiskies we're going to be sipping today. So we
have the a Overholt straight rye
whiskey from Penelope. We have the
Penelope straight rye Tokai cask
finish. The Penelope Rio
honey and amber on a cast finish.
We have the Penelope 4 grain cast strength
bourbon batch 17. We
(00:26):
have the Ezra Brooks 99 port cask finish
Kentucky stray bourbon, the new Riff
8 year Kentucky straight bourbon from
hidden Barn. We have the Hidden Barn Kentucky straight bourbon
whiskey seven year. And for the last
one, we have Booker's Springfield batch
2024. 01. Yeah, I
(00:46):
know. We're doing batch 01 of 2024 and
it's already 2025.
>> Maury (00:51):
Better late than never.
>> Announcer (00:53):
We'll be right back after this break.
(01:17):
Brought to you almost live from the dude in the
basement studios. Why? Because that's where the
good stuff is. It sips suds and
smokes with your smoke and host the good old
boys.
(01:49):
And now it's sipping time.
>> Brent (01:56):
Hey. Yes. It's sippin time again. Welcome to this sips
episode where everything good in life is worth discuss.
As always, we are the best thing on at 2:00am
no argument. Uh, no argument from the peanut
crown.
>> Bob (02:10):
Yeah, they moved Hee Haw.
>> Maury (02:11):
Huh?
>> Bob (02:11):
So, yeah, we're the best.
>> Brent (02:13):
I loved heho. Huh?
>> Bob (02:14):
Yeah.
>> Brent (02:15):
Elvis's girlfriend was in Hee Haw.
>> Bob (02:17):
Yeah.
>> Brent (02:18):
And Kenny Rogers wife was in Hee Haw.
>> Bob (02:21):
Uh, all the talent was in Hee Haw.
>> Brent (02:24):
Your husband was in Hee Haw.
>> Bob (02:25):
Uh, yes.
>> Brent (02:26):
He was junior samples. Yeah. Yes. Yeah.
I miss he.
>> Bob (02:31):
Yeah.
>> Brent (02:32):
Yeah. Well, what are you gonna do?
Hey, man, I was like 12 years old. That was the most exciting
thing on TV at the time.
>> Bob (02:41):
They've got to be playing it somewhere.
>> Brent (02:43):
Oh, yeah. Uh, man, I see m commercials. They sell like box
sets of it.
>> Bob (02:46):
Yeah.
>> Maury (02:49):
Hey, boys.
>> Brent (02:51):
Oh, please. You were watching it too, New York boy, I don't want to hear it
from you.
>> Bob (02:55):
Oh, uh, those Daisy Dukes.
>> Brent (02:57):
Oh, yeah. That's as country as he was getting. Yeah.
Well, this is made man Bob. And joining me today, we've got a
small cast. So we've got made man Maury.
>> Maury (03:05):
Good morning, Bob. Excited to be here in the damp,
dank basement today.
>> Brent (03:10):
We've got a beautiful lineup and good old boy
Justin.
>> Bob (03:13):
Always a pleasure to be here, Bob in the
basement. Great lineup today. I'm
excited to get into it.
>> Brent (03:21):
Yeah, I can tell. Put your pants back on. Well, our sip
segments are all about wine and distilled spirits and
tea and coffee and pretty much anything Else you can sip.
And here's the whiskeys we're going to be sipping
today. So we have the A Overholt
straight rye whiskey from
Penelope. We have the Penelope straight rye
Tokai cask finish. The Penelope
(03:43):
Rio honey and Amber Ana cask
finish. We have the Penelope 4
grain cast strength bourbon batch
17. We have the
Ezra Brooks 99 port cast finish Kentucky
straight bourbon, the new Riff 8 year
Kentucky straight Bourbon from Hidden
Barn. We have the Hidden Barn Kentucky straight Bourbon whiskey
(04:06):
seven year. And for the last one,
we have Booker's Springfield batch
2024. 01.
Yeah, I know. We're. We're doing batch 01
of 2024 and it's already 2025. Sometimes
we get behind. What can we do?
>> Maury (04:22):
So better late than never.
>> Brent (04:25):
I'll drink Bookers in the. I might. It's like a Dr. Seuss
book. I will drink it here or there. I will drink it anywhere. I
will drink it in a box. I will drink it with a fox in a tree. In a
tree. Yes. You'll see. I will drink Bookers with anyone
you see. Yeah,
well, you know, we've had a zombie and he's crawled out of the grave
and he wants to eat your brain, but he wants to have some Bookers with you before.
(04:46):
Okay. Yeah, okay. Yeah, yeah, we can do that.
>> Bob (04:49):
Yeah.
>> Brent (04:50):
So let's get to our Simps ratings and we're gonna have
Justin, against our better judgment,
tell us about those.
All right, let's
go ahead and make our day.
One sip. Give me a glass
of water to wash out my
mouth.
(05:17):
Two sips. Nice.
But what else do you have?
Well, isn't that, uh, nice?
Three sips.
It's interesting. What was this
again?
You're a doctor. Shouldn't he be like on oxygen with
(05:38):
that?
>> Maury (05:38):
Yeah, I think he needs a little.
>> Brent (05:40):
Sounds a little winded.
Interesting.
I think he needs some nitrous oxide.
Always, uh, need nitrous.
Make him a little more interesting.
Yeah, that could work.
Four sips. Let's keep this
secret to ourselves. Pour me
another.
That's classified.
(06:01):
That's what he used to say to the kids at the school, you know?
Mhm.
My doctor said plead the fifth.
Five sips. Oh my.
I was unaware anything could be this good.
Oh my goodness.
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
(06:21):
It's not his worst, I'll give him that. It's not his
worst. I mean, we heard his worst,
so. Yeah, that's. That's. Yeah, it could be
a lot worse. We're going to
go to our first whiskey and we're Going to have Maury tell us all
about that one.
>> Maury (06:36):
Why, thank you, Bob. Overholt is one of the
longest standing u. S. Whiskey brands in American
history. Originally created in West
Overton, Pennsylvania and established in
1810 by its namesake,
Abraham Overholt. Today the
brand is produced by Freddie Noe, 8th
Generation Master Distiller of the Fred
(06:58):
B. No distillery in Claremont,
Kentucky. Their newest release, a
Overholt mongahela mash, is
a Pennsylvania style classic
rye. In a nod to their historic
roots, reintroducing consumers to one
of the first styles of American whiskey,
a Overholt uses the same mash
(07:20):
Bill Overholt founder Abraham
overholt used in 1810.
It's 80% rye grain and
20% soft malted barley.
>> Brent (07:30):
So a proper rye, not a, um, barely
legal rye.
>> Maury (07:35):
Correct. Thank you, Bob. A overhauled straight
rye whiskey is 47.5%
ABV or 95 proof
in is aged four years. It's got a
delightful burnished copper color
on the nose. There's caramel, subtle layers of
sandalwood and caraway. The palette
is viscous. It's luscious. There's some
(07:57):
brown butter, a little bit of clove, some
seasoned oak. It's mouth coating,
and then it's just got this really incredibly long
finish with lots of tobacco and
oak with a little hint of cocoa. I thought this
was delicious. And clearly a step
up from what most of us have had with regard
to old Overholt rye. This
(08:19):
reintroduction of their classic, uh,
style. Getting back to their roots, in my opinion, they've
knocked it out of the park. I think they did a beautiful job with this.
They've really brought back their old
traditional roots. And, um, I'm
thrilled. I think if you see it on the shelf, I don't know
how easy it will be to find, but I would say if you see
it, buy it. You won't regret it.
>> Brent (08:41):
Yeah, this is, this is definitely a
completely different animal from the standard old
overhaul. Um, and hell, for
20 bucks old overhaul, it's pretty good pour.
But this one is completely different
whiskey. Um, really,
really well done, I thought. I mean, for the money, I honestly
can't think of anything we're doing today that for the money
(09:03):
is better. Um,
you know, this is not an expensive whiskey. I want to say
40ish bucks, 40 to 45.
Um, but a completely different animal. It's,
it's got a great nose. I mean, that was the first thing I
noticed about it, was the nose.
Justin and I were going through it and
(09:23):
I just Kept saying the same thing. What a pretty nose.
>> Bob (09:26):
Yeah, right.
>> Brent (09:28):
Just fruity. It's just. There's
caramel, there's. The sandalwood is absolutely there,
but there's a little bit of a floral characteristic to it.
It's just. It's so nice. And
on the palette, it. It follows through. Um, you
know, there's definitely some clove. There's
definitely oak. There's. For me, there's. There's
(09:49):
a bit of. A little bit of
a. Like a dark caramel toffee
kind of note to it. There's a little bit of a mocha on the back of
the palate. On the finish, you definitely get
the cocoa and the tobacco notes. Um,
it's got a little bit of a spice to it on the back, like a little
hint of white pepper.
Um, you know, really well done.
(10:11):
I mean, really well done. And. And again, a really historic
distillery, which is the cool thing, you know. You know who used to own this
at one point? No. Henry Clay
Frick.
>> Bob (10:20):
Who's that?
>> Brent (10:21):
He was one of. He was. He worked for, uh, Andrew
Carnegie.
>> Bob (10:25):
Oh, wow.
>> Brent (10:25):
And, like, he was the guy who, like, when they
had the homestead strike and they sent in guys and it turned
into, like, a whole massacre and everything, you know, he was. He was the
hitman for Carnegie.
>> Bob (10:35):
Oh, wow.
>> Brent (10:36):
And they had some. There was some club in, like, rural
Pennsylvania for, like, trillionaires, and they all
belonged to it. And, uh, they had a big lake.
And I remember watching on a history channel, it was raining and raining
as bad storm came, and they said, oh, this dam's gonna fail. And he's like,
ah, the dam failed and washed down and like,
you know, basically drowned in an entire town. He. He's not a
(10:57):
nice guy, but he actually owned this. It
was one of. He was an ancestor of Overhaul,
so I'm surprised.
>> Bob (11:04):
Not on the billboard.
>> Brent (11:06):
Yeah, exactly.
>> Maury (11:07):
But when did, uh, Beam acquire them?
>> Brent (11:10):
Oh, years ago. I think that was. I think it
was. I think it was when Beam. I think when
National Distillers dissolved, I think
Beam plucked a few brands from them, and I think this was one of the
ones they got. Like, Old Granddad was National Distillers. And I believe
this was also. I think this was also National Distillers.
I could be wrong. I'm. I'm sure if I'm wrong that we'll get
a hundred emails about it now. How you suck and you don't know what you're
(11:33):
doing, so. Because that's how it happens.
What do you think, Justin?
>> Bob (11:37):
So on the nose, it was like, uh, running
me a juicy fruit and tangerines.
A little bit of toffee on the
palate. I got animal crackers and
honey bunches.
>> Brent (11:49):
Of oats I gotta give him. He's right. There is a bit of a
juicy fruity to it. There's a little jackfruit in there.
>> Bob (11:55):
Yeah.
>> Brent (11:55):
Good for you. Look at you, you little overachiever,
you.
>> Bob (11:59):
And this doesn't drink like 95 proof
to me. It drinks like an 80
proof. Um, I don't
know, I could probably go on the porch with this, but I
probably won't get out of the porch for a long time.
>> Brent (12:13):
The thing that surprises me is how good it is. It's only four years
old.
>> Bob (12:16):
Yeah, I agree.
>> Maury (12:17):
It's surprisingly mature for a four year old. The
other thing I would say is that Old Overhaul's a nice
cocktail rye. It brings a little spice and heat
to a cocktail. I'm not sure I will put this in a cocktail
as quick as I.
>> Brent (12:29):
Would just sit this one all day. No, regular
Old Overhaul is a great base for a
cocktail, really. I mean, a solid whiskey and has been for
many years. But this one. No, don't. No, please
don't.
>> Bob (12:42):
Pair this with Maduro cigars if you're a cigar
smoker.
>> Brent (12:45):
Pair this with a rack of ribs if you're. Oh, yeah,
well, anything if you're a human.
>> Maury (12:50):
Anything.
>> Bob (12:51):
Yeah, we don't support vegans,
so.
>> Maury (12:54):
Yeah, I'm really digging the channel and I, I think for
the price, this is going to be an excellent value.
>> Brent (13:00):
Yeah.
>> Maury (13:00):
But it's a delicious whiskey at any price. I think they did a really nice
job overhauling this brand and,
uh, I loved it.
>> Brent (13:08):
Yeah, a fantastic whiskey. So we're going to be giving the a
Overholt straight rye whiskey. A well, well
deserved four sips.
That's classified.
I mean, just again, for the money, this is
one of the best deals I've seen all year.
So we'll be back.
Hey, and we're back and we just finished talking about the A
(13:29):
Overholt straight rye whiskey. Uh, we gave that
a well deserved four sips. If you see that on a shelf, definitely
grab one. For the money, you're not going to get a better bourbon for
sure. So we're going to move on to our next
whiskey. Um, and this is from the folks at
Penelope. So Penelope was founded in 2018
by Mike Paladini and Danny Police.
(13:49):
They were friends and neighbors who wanted to create an approachable
bourbon for folks to enjoy and share. And the
brand was Named after Mike's, uh, newly born
daughter. Um, so the first one that we have from
them, because we have a couple, is the Penelope straight
rye Tokai cask finish. It's 53%
ABV, 106 proof, 8 years
old. It's a 95.5 Rye.
(14:16):
And this is, this is the
second release of the Penelope Bourbon Tokai finish.
This year's release was distilled in Lawrenceburg, Indiana
at mgp. MGP is now the owner of the brand. They,
they basically, uh, purchased Penelope.
So now it's owned by them, which, you
know, it's a growing brand and they're
sourcing it from you. Why not? So this one
(14:39):
is aged for a full eight years as opposed to six years on the
original lease. Uh, the Tokai is a late
harvest wine from Hungary. If you've never had it,
it was once dubbed the king of
wines by King, uh, Louis XIV or
Wine of Kings. Wine of Kings.
And this release is part of Penelope's
(14:59):
Cooper series, uh, which also includes
the rose cast finish, Valencia and
Rio. So
let's take a sip and see what we think. So
the color, it's, it's
got a slight reddish, almost like
a, like a burnt reddish copper color to
(15:19):
it. On the nose.
If you dig deep, you can abs. You can actually, you can
absolutely pick out the Tokai. There's that raisiny
sweetness to it.
A little bit of, uh, a little bit of almond, but it's, uh,
(15:40):
a little bit of brioche too.
And on the palate, let's see.
M. On the
palate,
there's a little bit of a orangey note
to it. A little bit orange zest,
light caramel.
(16:03):
It's not, not cloyingly sweet, which was what I
had expected since it had been in Tokai
cask. Um, which tells me that they were paying
attention. They didn't overdo it. Usually when
folks just throw something into a cask and just let it
sit for months and months without checking, that's when you run into
problems like Ambarana. That's one,
that's, that's the wood of the day right now.
(16:25):
And so many people overdo it. Um, but this
one, they, they got the flavor, but they didn't get the sticky
out of it, which I, which I kind of, I'm happy about.
Um, on the finish,
there's a little bit of, a
little bit of a cigar box, tobacco barn kind of to
it. And you can absolutely. I
(16:47):
mean, the wine notes are there. I mean you're, you're getting the wine
Notes, it's just not cloyingly sticky sweet. So I think
this one's very well done. I think they, they, they. You know, it's
so, so many folks will cask finish
to differentiate themselves, but they just pour it in a
cask and then pour it out of a cast. They don't. It's not that hard.
Just go back and check it once in a while. You know, when it starts, when
(17:08):
it's getting to the point where it's, oh, that's getting to be too much. You might want to take
it out. And they don't seem to do that. So I think the
guys, Penelope, are doing a good job. What you think, Maury?
>> Maury (17:17):
Yeah, I would agree with you. I, uh, think in some, uh,
I think you nailed it. Uh, very nicely done.
Um, you know, essentially a lot of their stuff is,
uh, finesse and finishing.
So if you want some flavor and
some enhancement to the whiskey without dumping in flavor man
packets, you know, we all know that cast strength
(17:37):
finishing has been a beautiful, natural way to
add dimension to the whiskey.
And as we all know, sometimes those things can
steal the show and become the dominant star
and you lose the whiskey as the star. I think the Penelope's done
a nice job creating a quote
unquote flavored whiskey, meaning they're
flavoring with wood and cask, but in a
(18:00):
balanced way. So the whiskey is still the star.
And I agree with you, it comes out with a nice
little hint of sweetness, little hint of a lot of orange
zest and, um, little black
cherry and tobacco. It's very pleasant. It's
very easy drinking. It's, ah, it's a beautiful
place to start your whiskey journey. It, uh, could be an
(18:20):
aperitif, it could be a digestive. Uh, I think it's a
very nice whiskey. It's well made and,
uh, it's not traditional. It's not a
traditional 10 year bourbon. Cast strength
bookers. But for what it is, I think it's very well
done with finesse and style and
balance.
>> Brent (18:37):
Yeah. And it's again and again. It's like we've said it a
thousand times on the show for the last 10 or 12 years.
It's, you know, it's Swiss cheese. You're filling the holes. You're not
trying to cover the wall with paint, you're trying to fill in the holes.
And I think they've done a good job. And that's.
It seems so easy, it seems so
logical, but so many people don't do it. So
(18:58):
many people overdo it on cast Finishing.
So, you know, I don't have a Rick house with a bunch of
cast sitting, so I can't tell you. I can't tell you
from personal experience if it's easier. It's hard, but I mean, logically it
seems like it's not that damn hard to go in and check it every
couple of days, you know, or once a week or something.
>> Bob (19:14):
Especially if you're thirsty.
>> Brent (19:16):
I'm always thirsty.
>> Bob (19:17):
I know.
>> Maury (19:18):
We're born thirsty.
>> Brent (19:19):
If it wasn't for the whiskey, those voices in my head would just.
Never mind what you think, Justin.
>> Bob (19:25):
Well, I'm, uh, going to do this show till I get the second
career of checking those casks, um, for
them. Because, you know, I'm a giver.
>> Brent (19:32):
I got, like, said that before. You're. You're definitely a giver. They said
that about you, uh, during COVID You were a giver.
>> Bob (19:38):
Yeah, I gave a lot of.
>> Maury (19:39):
Yeah, I always thought you were a receiver.
>> Brent (19:41):
Yeah. And then that. That venereal disease clinic
said you were giving. Never mind.
>> Bob (19:45):
Yeah, so this kind of reminded me of like,
chocolate, a little chocolate liqueur,
things, you know, in. With a little liquor in the
middle before I got to graduate and
just have the liquor without the chocolate in it.
And I also got amaretto and cognac on
the nose, uh, on the
palate. It reminded me of, like that
(20:07):
first hit of Swisher Sweets when
you smoke, you know, a cigar
when you're, uh, you know, on the younger side
smoking cigars. And I also got Mexican
Fanta.
>> Brent (20:19):
Which one?
>> Bob (20:22):
There's more than one? The orange.
>> Brent (20:24):
Orange, okay. The orange. Okay.
>> Bob (20:25):
Oh, I didn't know there was more than one.
>> Brent (20:27):
No, they got grape and all the different flavors.
>> Maury (20:29):
I didn't get any Mexican.
>> Brent (20:30):
Yeah.
>> Bob (20:31):
Oh, okay. I had no idea. All right, I'm excited
now. Anyway, back to the whiskey and on
the finish, I got, like, bright red cocktail
cherries. And it was. I enjoyed
it.
>> Brent (20:43):
Yeah, I definitely. The cherry is definitely there.
Yeah, this one was nice. I think they did a good
job. So we're going to be, uh, giving the
Penelope straight ride toy cast finish.
A well deserved three sips.
Interesting.
So that's going to take us to our next one
and we're going to have Justin tell us all about
(21:06):
that one.
>> Bob (21:07):
So I get to talk about Penelope Rio
honey and Ambarana cask finish straight
bourbon whiskey. It's 49%
alcohol by volume or 98 proof.
It's made of 74%
corn, 16% wheat,
7% rye, and 3%
malted barley. Um, the color
(21:29):
of this is
kind of like a light, uh, brown,
dark copper color.
It's the honey hits you like right off the
bat. And it does
remind me of the cinnamon rolls. You get like a Holiday
Inn before you start your day.
(21:52):
Um, I also got
like, ah, brioche bun.
>> Brent (22:01):
Allspice. M.
>> Bob (22:04):
It was very rich, sweet,
syrupy experience. And the finish
on it,
it's very sweet and it lasts
for a lot longer than you think it
would. And then the sweetness
finally fades off and then you get wood, and then it's
(22:25):
over. What'd you think, Maury? You got wood?
>> Brent (22:27):
I'm glad you're sitting over there. Wow.
>> Bob (22:29):
Right?
>> Maury (22:31):
Thank God he's wearing pants today.
>> Bob (22:35):
Nothing you haven't seen before, Doc.
>> Maury (22:37):
No. Uh, you know, this is just
smaller. This is,
ah, I think this could be a polarizing whiskey.
Uh, it's delightful. It's delicious for what it is. Let's judge
it for what's in the glass. I agree with you on the color. The
nose is definitely a lot of sweetness. Honey, cinnamon
rolls, etc. Etc. Palette,
I would agree. Gingerbread, honey, baking
(22:59):
spice, brioche.
Um, it's, it's a very sweet whiskey.
Uh, I enjoyed it. But in the right
settings, this would be a beautiful nightcap
as your dessert. Or with a subtle
dessert that's not too sweet, such as a sour, uh,
cream cake or butter cake. This would go nicely.
Or a very dark 90 and
(23:21):
cocoa. Bittersweet chocolate.
>> Brent (23:26):
Yeah.
>> Maury (23:27):
Uh, I think it's definitely not an
all day sipper. It shows how extreme you can go with
finishing whiskeys without putting in
added flavors. This is purely done with, uh,
casks and wood. Cooking with wood, as we
say. And they've done really some interesting stuff, but it's
out there. It's at one extreme. And that
doesn't make it bad. It just means that it's not going to be
(23:50):
traditional. It's not going to be for everybody. But for what it is
and what it was meant to be. They did a beautiful job.
>> Brent (23:56):
Yeah, I agree. It's, it's. This isn't the
one I'm going to be drinking by the pool.
Um, but wow.
For after dinner, it's neat to have on your
shelf. It's initially or for
dessert. I think this is fantastic.
They, they nailed it on the ambarana. Most people
overdo amber on, and it's real easy to overdo on
(24:18):
piranha. Um, they got just enough to where
you're really getting it, but it's not hitting you over the head.
Yeah, Usually with Ambron I get it's like that
blinding cinnamon roll. But this one,
because I don't know if it's because of the honey barrel that they also
use. But this one, this one.
The first tasting note I got is gingerbread man.
I mean this thing is. It just whacks you in the face with
(24:41):
gingerbread, which is not something, which
is not something you get in your typical average bourbon.
So that in and of itself I'm
already happy about. Um,
but it's. Yeah. I mean the nose,
there's a little bit of the cinnamon pastry in there.
Not real heavy. Like uh, a lot of
(25:03):
overly done ambarana is.
It's more pastry than cinnamon.
A, um, little bit of dark honey. But that
gingerbread, hold on.
>> Maury (25:15):
Mhm.
>> Brent (25:17):
That gingerbread is just right there, right up
front, which I dig. I love
gingerbread. There's, you know, there's the baking
spice in it. It's
mostly, for me, it's mostly front palate,
um, back palette, not as front palette,
mainly mid palate, back palette, not as much. But
(25:37):
I think this is a really, really good experiment.
I think, I think that this one worked out really well.
And when I saw it I went, I don't know
how that's going to go. Um,
again, it's not. Also not, it's not sticky sweet.
The sweetness is absolutely there but it's not cloying.
Like you know, somebody handed me this and I wasn't having a nice
(25:58):
dessert. I'd still enjoy it. Whereas a lot of
dessert ish whiskeys are just too
sticky. This one, I think they did a really good job.
>> Bob (26:06):
It would have been so easy to overdo it.
>> Brent (26:08):
Yeah.
>> Bob (26:09):
And they didn't.
>> Brent (26:10):
Yeah. I mean this job guys. Yeah, this one was very
good. So we're going to be giving the Penelope Rio,
uh, honey and Amber Anish straight bourbon
whiskey a uh, well deserved. Three
sips.
Interesting.
So that's going to take us to our last one from
Penelope and we're going to have Maury tell us about that one.
>> Maury (26:32):
Why thank you, Bob. Our last Penelope
whiskey is the Penelope 4 grain cask strength
bourbon batch 17. It comes
in at 58% ABV or
116 proof. It is non age
stated. It is 74% corn,
16% wheat, 7%
rye and 3% malted barley. It
(26:54):
is non chill filtered. This expression is a blend
of three different bourbons comprised of four
grains, corn, wheat and
rye and malted barley. The whiskeys are
aged four to six years in barrels with a number
four char and number Two charred
barrel heads. So
(27:14):
this whiskey is a very similar color to the others. A
nice light burnished copper on the nose.
There's lots of really sweet caramel, hints of maple
syrups, and just a sort of candied
sweetness. The nose is definitely much
sweeter than you'd, um, than the palate.
And so the palate is a little bit contrasty to what you
get on the nose. The nose promises this just
(27:36):
syrupy sweet nectar. And then you
drink it down and you get syrupy. Nice
mouthfeel with some brown sugar, some caramel,
a little bit of barrel char, butterscotch, creme brulee,
cinnamon, and just a hint of maple syrup. So not
nearly as sweet on the palate as the nose
promised,
(27:58):
but it is mouth coating. The finish is definitely
cinnamony, a hint of spice. It
lingers. Um, there's even a little bit of heat on the
finish. It kind of heats up on the very back end. There's just a little
bit of smoke and fire that kind of
persists. So medium to long finish. I like
this. I thought this whiskey was a step up from the other
two. It's a little bit more traditional than what
(28:21):
you'd expect from a classic bourbon. Than the cask
finish with the Tokai, um, or the
Ambarana. I liked it very much. I thought it was balanced,
beautifully made, go in the right direction. I'd love to see
what else they have in the future, but this is. I'm happy with this for
today. Justin. What?
>> Brent (28:37):
Is it true that we have to bring our own water?
>> Maury (28:39):
We got a little rule back home. If it's brown, drink it
down.
>> Brent (28:43):
Mm, mhm.
>> Bob (28:44):
So this was a fun spirit. I
definitely got like that great
kerosene lamp burning smell that I
like.
>> Maury (28:53):
Um, I'm glad you like
it because I find that smell obnoxious.
>> Bob (28:58):
I love that smell.
>> Brent (28:59):
He's huffing brake cleaner out of a paper bag. Look at
him.
>> Bob (29:03):
Yeah, well, you know,
grow up. Plantation. What do you want?
>> Maury (29:09):
So you grew up on a plantation?
>> Bob (29:11):
Implantation.
>> Brent (29:12):
Yeah, same thing.
>> Bob (29:13):
Same thing. There was like, I, uh, think
we.
>> Maury (29:16):
Should change the name of your town. It's offensive.
>> Bob (29:19):
Yeah, they tried that. Didn't go anywhere.
>> Brent (29:22):
Attitude, sir.
>> Bob (29:23):
Didn't go anywhere.
So it's just a really nice balance
of sweet and wood. And
the finish was
balanced. It's pretty cool. They took
four different bourbons or three different
bourbons, all these different ingredients,
and they didn't chill filter it.
(29:45):
And wow. I don't know, they. They
killed it.
>> Brent (29:50):
Chill filtration is the devil.
>> Bob (29:51):
It is. And I'm glad they just left it. Let it be.
>> Brent (29:54):
Yeah.
>> Bob (29:55):
I just let you do the better.
>> Brent (29:57):
I, and I know there are people out there who
do like targeted filtration, chill filtration, you
know, to take little things, not just bulk.
But I just, I just don't like
chill filtration. Leave the fatty acids in there. They're
in there for a reason. God wanted them there.
>> Bob (30:13):
I think it's healthier.
>> Brent (30:15):
Yeah, I'll go with that. It's healthier.
>> Bob (30:18):
Less processed.
>> Brent (30:19):
Well, it's healthier for everybody else because when I drink a good whiskey I'm less
hostile. So
yeah, this one's, this one's lovely. It's just
maple syrup and like sweet
sticky pastry on the nose.
On the palate.
(30:39):
Mhm.
Brown sugar. On the exhale, the
barrel char really comes out.
>> Bob (30:46):
Yeah.
>> Brent (30:47):
You know, you don't get it on the swallow, but on the exhale that barrel char
just leaps out. There's butterscotch in there.
There's um,
the baking spices definitely leap forward
and it's got, it's got a good mouthfeel to it. It's
coating.
Mhm. You know, top
(31:08):
and bottom of the palate, sides of the mouth, under the
tongue, you know, gives you that viscosity
that you know, a lighter whiskey or an overly filtered
whiskey would uh, not have.
So I think they did a good job on this
one. Really enjoyed that one. So
what do you guys think? I think we're
(31:29):
going to be giving the Penelope four grain cast
strength bourbon batch number 17,
a well deserved four sips.
That's classified.
So that leads us on into our next whiskey.
We're getting ready to run out of time, but I'll start reading about
it. So this is the Ezra Brooks 99
port cast finish Kentucky straight bourbon.
(31:51):
49. 49.5%
ABV 99 proof,
78 corn, 10% rye and
12% malt. This is the latest addition to the
Ezra Brooks brand family. The port
wine cast finish was finished in port cast for
six months. So
colors of uh,
(32:13):
sort of a dark to mid to dark
straw. I would expected a little
bit more color from the portcast. But we'll
be back. Hey. And we're back
and we were just starting to discuss the Ezra Brooks
99 portcast finish. So again,
49.49.5% ABV
99 proof, 78 corn, 10
(32:36):
rye and 12 malt. So a
lighter color than I would expected from a port cast
finish whiskey. But it also, I don't know what
type of port it was. I don't know if it's ruby port.
Yeah. So
we'll see. But on the nose,
definitely get a nice caramel note.
(33:00):
I can just get a hint of
the sort of the grapeiness of the wine.
Get a little bit of, a little bit of
barrel char and a
very, uh, a very, very clean, like, fresh
sawn oak. But that's very, very,
very deep. You've got to really get in there to dig it
(33:21):
out. And on the palate, let's
see
on the palette, lighter than I expected. I was expecting a little
bit more heavy with the port cast, but,
yeah, a very, very light, um,
a light caramel with a little bit of barrel char coming
(33:43):
through. Almost like a, like
the brulee on the top of a creme brulee.
A little bit of vanilla, slight bit
of butterscotch. Not getting
a lot of the port cask influence on the palate. I got it more on the
nose. What'd you think, Justin?
>> Bob (34:01):
So this would be
the bourbon, I would imagine, Agent 99 from
Get Smart Drinking. It's, like, light,
approachable on the
nose.
>> Brent (34:13):
Should we get in the cone of silence to discuss?
>> Bob (34:18):
On the nose, I got, like, caramel
brown sugar, you know,
like cream of Wheat on the palette.
It was sweet, woody.
The finish was malty. I don't think the port
was readily isolatable
or identifiable, but I think it infused the
(34:39):
whole thing.
>> Brent (34:40):
I think you're right about the malt. The malt, definitely. I, I, I miss
that now. I'm still tasting it. I mean, it's got a pretty good
finish on it. Um, the malt leaps forward.
>> Bob (34:48):
But yeah, I mean, it's a
good dessert cordial.
Or if you have a beautiful person
come over and they don't drink a
lot of bourbon, start them off with.
>> Brent (35:01):
A beautiful person here.
>> Bob (35:03):
Well, that's never if one came over.
In theory, the only
way a beautiful.
>> Brent (35:09):
Person is coming down here is if Brent kidnaps
them, rolls them up on
a carpet, and drags them down the stairs to the basement. Yeah,
yeah, yeah, not so
much.
>> Bob (35:22):
I don't think he's got that kind of ambition.
>> Brent (35:25):
Nah, I don't think so either.
>> Bob (35:26):
Yeah, yeah, we score a good bottle.
>> Brent (35:28):
But what you think?
>> Maury (35:30):
Well, I generally like the stuff coming out of there,
but, uh, honestly, this one was a little bit of a
disappointment for me. My, my first impression was just,
meh, it's just there.
Um, I, I think it's, there's nothing
inherently wrong with it, but there's nothing inherently great about
it. Um, I just was a little bit
underwhelmed. I think they've done better stuff. I, uh, didn't add any
(35:51):
water. What did you think when
you added water? Did you find any improvement?
>> Brent (35:56):
It didn't raise it. You know, it. The
palette didn't come forward, but it, to me, it sort
of blended it out a little bit more evenly.
>> Bob (36:04):
What is this water that you speak of?
>> Brent (36:06):
It's a thing that fish fornicate in.
>> Bob (36:08):
Oh, that.
>> Brent (36:09):
Yeah.
>> Maury (36:09):
Okay. I got a hint of young corn on it,
and I really didn't like the youngness to it.
Uh, I just felt like it was underdeveloped.
And it just. I'm
sorry to say, it just. Just didn't hit me. Well today.
>> Brent (36:24):
Well, not all of them are 100%, you know, hit out
of the park, so what can you do? It's,
uh, again, nothing wrong with it,
but it was well made. Yeah.
Not hit. Not hitting everybody, you know, on all four
cylinders. So we're going to give the Ezra Brooks 99 port
cask finish Kentucky straight bourbon, uh, three
sips.
>> Maury (36:45):
I think I wanted to add one little thing about port cask
finishing. You know, we're really big about talking about the types of sherry
casks, and we're interested in talking about
Madeira casks occasionally
and similar. But the reality of it is, uh, there
are at least five types of Madeira and there's at least
a handful of types of port. And so, as Bob
pointed out, is it. Was it a ruby port? Was it a vintage port? Was it a
(37:07):
tawny port?
>> Bob (37:09):
Uh, is it a white port?
>> Brent (37:10):
Right.
>> Maury (37:11):
Uh, I think we. One of the things that I'm hopeful will be
more transparent in the future is what type of port
cask. Because saying a port cask is akin to saying
it was a whiskey cask. We finished our honey in it.
>> Brent (37:22):
I don't think they're hiding it. I just. I just didn't have the information.
I'm sure if. I know.
>> Maury (37:26):
I don't think they're hiding it. I just think that it would be nice
to. As consumers become more educated
about. Oh, yeah, a cask finishing. Well, they're like a
really finish.
>> Brent (37:35):
Never enough information. Honestly, every bottle should come in
a little box or a tube with a, uh,
the data sheet in it. QR code.
And sometimes we. Sometimes I ask, you know, hey, if you have data
sheets on the products you're sending us to try on the show, please send
them. I'm not telling you I'm going to read everything that's on that
sheet. But the more information we have, the
better, you know, And I Don't care how geeky it gets. I don't
(37:58):
care. If you tell me the corn came from this farm on this street,
I send it to us. Ah, you know, I, we,
we always want as much as we can get, so.
Right.
>> Maury (38:07):
But, and that's my point is that it
would enable the consumer to hone in
on, you know, I really like tawny port
finished whiskey as opposed to a ruby port
finish whiskey, which is completely different.
>> Brent (38:19):
You make a more informed decision.
>> Bob (38:20):
Of course, maybe they use more than one kind of pork cast too,
and blended them together.
>> Maury (38:25):
For example, we all know that a PX or Pedro
Jimenez is the sweetest, most cloying type of
sherry. Dramatically different from Fino
and Amontillado sherry. Completely
different. And so I think that
as people become more sophisticated, they'll be interested in
fine tuning their palate to whiskies that are finished in and
(38:45):
woods and cast they like.
>> Brent (38:46):
Well, let's go to our next whiskey. So we're gonna have Justin
tell us about that one.
>> Bob (38:51):
So we're gonna talk about new riff 8 year
Kentucky straight bourbon. It's
50% alcohol by volume or 100
proof. This 8 year old whiskey
is New Rift distilling's oldest bourbon yet
released. The whiskey is non chill filtered
and hasn't met. Yeah, I know.
And has a mashable 65% corn,
(39:13):
30% rye and 5%
malted barley. So it's a high rye rye.
While known for their commitment to bottled and bond
standards, New Riff made the difficult but
necessary decision to waive the status for this
release to be able to focus on a
wider release despite meeting all the
(39:34):
other requirements of a bonded whiskey.
Due to the comparatively small production from the
earliest years of New Riff, this release
blends bourbons from two distilling seasons and
aged a minimum of eight years.
So the nose on this
one was like, ah, lovely. I got like
(39:54):
brioche, I got new car
smell and marshmallow
on the palette was
woody caramel, more
marshmallow. The finish was
nicely balanced and the note that popped out
at me was cedar. How about you,
Maury? What'd you think?
>> Maury (40:15):
Well, I, uh, would like to say that this
whiskey improved with time, patience
and oxygen. When I first poured this whiskey,
I was pretty underwhelmed. It's
definitely matured and developed quite a bit in the
glass and I think oxygen and patience
have done it well and will reward you.
(40:36):
Um, I agree with pretty much all the tasting notes that you said.
I thought it had a beautiful mouthfeel. I love the Viscosity
to it. To me that was its greatest asset more than
any of the flavors was the viscosity. And the
mouthfeel felt really nice. Um, I think it's a
beautiful effort. I think new rifts is coming has come a long way.
I think they're continuing to go in the right direction,
um, by inner technicality that they couldn't call
(40:58):
it bonded even though it's 100 proof. Uh, but
the fact is that it's, the proof is right.
It's well made, it's going the right direction. I think you're
going to only see better and better things coming out of New Riff
moving forward as their stocks continue to
mature. Bob, what do you think?
>> Brent (41:15):
I, uh, thought it was delicious. I mean on the nose
I get toffee brown butter and I, I got
the cedar chest that you got on the nose.
That's definitely there, your grandmother's cedar chest
full of, you know, linens and things and,
and on the palate it's um,
dark, burnt, dark burnt toffee. To me.
(41:36):
Um, it's got a great peppery spiciness to it
on the tongue, um, a little bit of char on
the exhale. But again, what Maury said,
great mouthfeel, really great mouthfeel. And
that's, you know, that, that's hard to do. I mean that, that
shows you that, you know, you got somebody running the still that knows what they're doing.
>> Bob (41:54):
It's non chill filtering for you. They'll take that mouthfeel right
out.
>> Brent (41:57):
Takes all that fat out. So yeah, I mean
extremely, I think extremely well done.
Um, you know, definitely a good whiskey.
So we're going to be giving the new Riff
Kentucky straight bourbon eight
year, uh, well deserved. Three sips.
Interesting.
So that's going to take us to the next one which is Hidden
(42:18):
Barn Kentucky straight bourbon whiskey, 7 years old,
54.7% ABV
109.4 proof.
So Hidden Barn owned by the Neely family and
blended in partnership with master blender Jackie
Zan. Uh, this is the 7 year old
expression age 5 years in 24 month
(42:38):
open air season barrels and then barreled a
new charred French oak barrels for an additional two
years and
I definitely get the char I I the French oak
leaps out. That's
100% the nose on this.
I don't know if it's limousine or trunk
(43:01):
a I I don't know what, where the
French oak came from but it's definitely there's, you
know, you're definitely getting that
French oak effect on it
on the palate. Hold on.
Mhm.
On the palette, there's dark
(43:22):
caramel, burnt toffee.
A lot of um, it's not as,
it's not so much the spice. Is that that darkness
of the black pepper. It's not that burning spice,
but it's that, that darkness of the black pepper.
I think it was probably the best thing I've had from Hidden Barn so far.
I think this one was well done. What'd you think, Justin?
>> Bob (43:44):
I wish I could get the barrel that
they made this in, take it apart
and grill salmon on it or throw
it in my fire pit because it's just got the most gorgeous
wood smell I've smelt in two
years. And I also got like cinnamon, ah,
candle wax on the nose.
(44:04):
Um, on the palette, it was
sweet, kind of like,
um, the middle of an
atomic fireball kind of texture to
it, um, where the heat's worn
off. And on the finish I got
like sweet in the center and wood
on the sides of my palette. And I, I
(44:27):
like this a lot, but I really want the
barrel. So if you go send the barrel to me, that would be great.
Guys.
>> Brent (44:32):
What'd you think, Mark?
>> Maury (44:34):
Another one that I thought was well made. Going the right
direction. Uh, it's
um, shocking that it's, ah, seven years
old because it still tastes a little bit young to me.
Um, I get a lot of wood. To me, it's been almost
a little over oaked. It's a little off balance.
>> Brent (44:51):
To me it's that second, that second barrel.
So you know, you're, you've got five years in one barrel and then you're
putting it into a new barrel.
>> Maury (44:58):
Right. And so it's, it's, it's very oak
forward. Uh, the French oak definitely adds a nice
dimension. But I, uh, in my
opinion they, they've gone just a little bit too far
with the over oak and perhaps backing it
off a little bit on the front end on the American
oak or a little bit on the back end with the French oak.
(45:18):
A nice whiskey. Nothing inherently wrong, no
flaws, balanced. Um,
but to me, just slightly too much
oak.
>> Brent (45:27):
Yeah. Palates vary. What you going to
do? We're going to give the hidden bar and Kentucky straight
bourbon whiskey seven year, three sips.
Interesting.
So that brings us to our last one. We're going to have Maury
tell us about that one.
>> Maury (45:41):
Okay, so, uh, the last whiskey. Thank you,
Bob. Is the, uh, Booker's Springfield
batch 24 1.
20241 62.25% ABV or
124.5 proof. The first
Booker's batch of 2020 of 2024
is called the Springfield batch to honor my Booker
knows hometown of Springfield,
(46:03):
Kentucky. He worked on many farms when he was
young and growing up. From the hay ah fields to the
tobacco patches, this batch is made up of
five production dates stored in four different
aging warehouses. The age is seven years, seven
months and eight days. Breakdown of barrel
storage for Booker Springfield batch is as follows.
(46:24):
17% came from the 5th floor of 9 story
warehouse G. 7% came from the 4th floor of
9 story warehouse Hill. 31% came from the
5th floor Of 7 story warehouse
Z and 45% came from the 4th floor
Of 7 story warehouse 3.
The color is a deep, dark burnished
copper. This whiskey's got a beautiful nose.
(46:47):
With all the classic creme brulee and
toffee spices on the palette. It's beautiful.
It's mouth coating, it's viscous, it's got a
very long finish. This whiskey is
fantastic. It's delicious, it's
wonderful. But it is completely
different than any bookers I've had in the last several
years. It is a complete new direction for
(47:09):
Bookers, but nonetheless, comparing
it to itself within the glass, it's
fantastic. Comparing it to previous vintages of
Booker's, it's going to be slightly different. To me, this one
has a very special spot in my heart. I grew up in Springfield, New
Jersey. Almost every state in the country has a
Springfield. But when I saw Springfield batch I needed to have
it and I knew that it would need it to be great. And as it turns
(47:32):
out, uh, I believe whiskey advocates given
it number, uh, three or four whiskey of the year this year.
So this whiskey has been, uh, highly touted and rated by lots
of people and we are privileged to try it today.
Justin, what did you think?
>> Bob (47:44):
So on the nose it was kind of grassy, corny,
caramel mint on the palate,
minty and sweet. I got kind of a cheese
grits thing in the middle and the finish was pleasant
and minty, but I really enjoyed it.
What a different Booker's, uh, bookers
is.
>> Brent (48:02):
Usually that baseball bat to the
head, you know that it just whacks the hell out
of you like a George D. Stagg. This one is different. This one
is more subtle. I mean the flavor is
huge. The pallet is huge, the nose
is.
>> Maury (48:17):
And it's gotten better with air. It's just blowing
just.
>> Brent (48:20):
It just continues to evolve. There's so many layers to it,
but it's not that brute that it normally
is. So much more finesse.
>> Bob (48:28):
Yeah.
>> Brent (48:29):
This one is just fantastic. Hold on.
>> Maury (48:31):
Uh.
>> Brent (48:33):
Mhm.
God, this is good. Absolutely
fantastic. So five, we're gonna
give the Booker Springfield batch
2024 Dash 1A. Ah, well
deserved. Five sips.
Oh my goodness.
Yeah, yeah,
(48:55):
yeah. Lord, it's just.
It, it's, it's still big. That's the funny thing. It's still
big, but it's not, it's not hitting you over the booker's big.
It's not, it's not that brood. Yeah, that's
fantastic. So that's all the time
we have for today. Want to thank everybody for joining us. Thank
you, Maury.
>> Maury (49:13):
Thank you, Bob. It's been a delicious morning in the
basement.
>> Brent (49:16):
And thank you, Justin.
>> Bob (49:18):
Thank you. What a way to start the year, guys.
>> Brent (49:20):
Yeah. This doesn't suck, does it?
>> Bob (49:23):
Yes.
>> Maury (49:23):
Happy 25.
>> Brent (49:24):
Well for sip says and smokes, this made man. Bob, thank you for
joining us. Remember, life is too short to drink bad whiskey.
Unfortunately, today that's not something we had to
do so especially with this
bookers. So
good. So different, but so good.
>> Maury (49:41):
Lovely.
>> Brent (49:43):
Ah. Uh, just wish they'd send a 750.
>> Maury (49:46):
Yeah, right.
>> Announcer (49:49):
We hope you enjoyed this episode. If
you're listening to us online, do yourself a favor
and tap, just tap it in the subscribe
button.
>> Brent (49:58):
You've been a little tappy. Tap, tap,
taparoo.
>> Announcer (50:01):
The easiest way to listen to our show is to ask Siri,
Alexa, Google, Uncle Larry or whoever it is that
talks to you on your phone play podcast. Sip, Suds
and Smokes. We love your feedback and you
can reach us at info at sipsuds and smokes
dot com. Our tasting notes flow out on Twitter
and Instagram with our handle
ipsudsandsmokes. And our Facebook page
(50:23):
is always buzzing with lots of news. You'll
also be able to interact with the thousands,
millions and
millions of other fans on those social media
platforms. Do us a favor, take the time
to rate this episode. If you're listening to us online, that's a
big help to us and we get to see your feedback as
well. Come back, join us for another
(50:45):
episode and keep on sipping.
This has been a one tan hand production of, uh,
Sip Suds and Smokes, a program devoted to
the appreciation of some of the finer slices of
(51:06):
life. From the dude in the basement Studios, your
host, the good old boys. We'll see you all next time.
Popular Podcasts
On Purpose with Jay Shetty
I’m Jay Shetty host of On Purpose the worlds #1 Mental Health podcast and I’m so grateful you found us. I started this podcast 5 years ago to invite you into conversations and workshops that are designed to help make you happier, healthier and more healed. I believe that when you (yes you) feel seen, heard and understood you’re able to deal with relationship struggles, work challenges and life’s ups and downs with more ease and grace. I interview experts, celebrities, thought leaders and athletes so that we can grow our mindset, build better habits and uncover a side of them we’ve never seen before. New episodes every Monday and Friday. Your support means the world to me and I don’t take it for granted — click the follow button and leave a review to help us spread the love with On Purpose. I can’t wait for you to listen to your first or 500th episode!
Stuff You Should Know
If you've ever wanted to know about champagne, satanism, the Stonewall Uprising, chaos theory, LSD, El Nino, true crime and Rosa Parks, then look no further. Josh and Chuck have you covered.
Dateline NBC
Current and classic episodes, featuring compelling true-crime mysteries, powerful documentaries and in-depth investigations. Follow now to get the latest episodes of Dateline NBC completely free, or subscribe to Dateline Premium for ad-free listening and exclusive bonus content: DatelinePremium.com