Jason from Cleveland Barrel Hunter Brings his Picks!; Ep. 40

Daniel AI: Wow. Thank you to Jason from Cleveland Barrel Hunter. Please find him on Instagram, Discord, and Facebook. You won't be disappointed. Even in the post-production edits, watching this made my mouth water again. Please like, follow, subscribe, and share. Please leave comments. From one comment, I did try to zoom a little closer for this episode. Thank you for watching our 40th episode. Bourbon Brass and Beyond welcomes Jason Kern from Cleveland Barrel Hunter for our 40th episode. You will want to your full attention to this episode because these picks were amazing. Don't forget to like, follow, and subscribe. Here is Jason with Dan and Bob.

Jason, Dan And Bob: Yesterday he just got that one. It's pretty too. It's also killer. Look at the text strip on it. It's It just looks ugh. That bottle is by itself with nothing in it. be awesome. Anything like that and let's see what year it is. So he's got 1959 in the text strip. So it's awesome. 1959 is clearly labeled on the text strip. What was this one? That one was what? 40s? The decanter. So that's a 1962. Well, good afternoon. How's everybody? Welcome to Bourbon, Brass & Beyond. today, we have Jason from Cleveland Barrel Hunters here and he has brought a large selection. Some of my previous picks. Yeah. You guys don't do like a we're the whiskey junkies. I'm Dan and I'm Sean. We just assume everyone does. Yeah. Catchy taglines to the videos. You know, sometimes I do like the AI voice where I'll type like Distillate 1968 bottling of old Fitzgerald. So that's Pappy's the very old very old and milk glass. Okay, we're both distilled in 62. What is this a 50 ml? It's a a pint. ⁓ Well But this one this one was distilled in 48 and okay bottled in 52 That's just killer. I mean, ⁓ yeah ⁓ the intro to the episode. ⁓ and lay it over? Yeah. Cool. I do that. Yeah. And then at the close, but other than that. A little synopsis of what is in the video. Nice. Yeah. Yeah. I've seen some of the videos, some cool stuff. I mean, obviously the setup you have here is incredible. So thanks for having us today. Yeah. Thanks for coming down. This is ⁓ exciting. think we're going to do a warm up with a Russell's Reserve. Yeah, right on. ⁓ Buildups some of the picks you guys can try. It's a terrible for modern shelves, but at ⁓ would see that and be like, ugh. Yeah. we're back at it. Cool. We're going to to splice that video. Surprise. Back to little trail, like I was saying. It's very complimentary of where we came from. It's got a little bit more kick to the tongue, but. I'll you, the nose on this is really, really nice. Not too dissimilar where. No. I'm excited for these. didn't bring any of the hot thing right now with the River Roots is the single malt. So I didn't bring any of those because those are super divisive. Yeah. So I didn't pull one of those because I mean that they're pallet destroyers. Like you could get in and dig into them and then there's like a barbecue and a burnt tire and a very earthy like kind of like weed aspect to it and starts adding up fast across everything. It does. It moves in so many different directions. So this is a 16 year old. Which is wild because I mean this is pre Campari. You see it now. It's like holy cow. Yeah, man. This is the 2003 distillate. This was before they raised the entry barrel proof. Happy Sunday, to see you. Get at it. Well, that is, mean, everything you want in an aged turkey. Oh, and It's almost like it's a completely different flavor. Right. You know, like the the rye actually is a really deep rye. Like the difference between like like a deep sourdough bread and just white bread. It just it has a much deeper taste to it. Yeah. And I mean, four years, seven months, and it's got the legs on it or just I mean, this is what's like I said, we tried a bunch of five year stuff, approaching six year stuff and. I have an old Dusty, I have a 1983 Wild Turkey 101. That been my favorite forever until I got this. And this is like a just nice vanilla bomb. Yeah, I was gonna say vanilla, but then it's kind of got that like little bit of a oak that sits around in the mouth and just kind of lingers. Yeah, I have a buddy that's really into Dusty's and he has this, he kind of gets them for different people, whatnot, from different estate sales, but he'll travel Indiana and all over. And I just have decanters like everywhere and they're all mason jars and 1983 beam, 1976 this night. They're just, He has the Chessmen. Have you ever read the Chessmen? Oh yeah. I've seen them. I've never had one, but. So he gets them pretty regularly and I literally have buddies that are like, you got all these Dusty's and these 1970s. He goes, You take away all the preconceived notions and you blind stuff like this. That's the key. It doesn't matter when you don't know. But on the other side of it, when you're trying to present this to somebody or sell this to somebody or offer it to somebody and they're like, well, what's the age statement? I'm like, come over, go blind, shut up, enjoy it. Yeah, well, that's good. Just get one Chessman and get rid of the rest of them. There's nothing better. That is literally the peak of dusty bourbons. And that's old Crow. Yeah. But which is funny because I mean, old Crow is like, that looks like a prohibition. That's 1944. So distilled in 1939, bottled in 1944, old Crow. Nice. So maybe we can end on that one. That looks like a little, yeah. ⁓ ⁓ really dig those. out of all my picks, I've had all my picks sold out basically in less than a day. For some reason, this one here that I've had for a ⁓ bit now, I have two cases still. And then even the backbone, we still have a decent amount of those left. It's just one of those things where you kind of get it in the hands of the right people and they kind of give their feedback socially. Social media nowadays is your helper moving some of the stuff to people. Yeah. That's a fantastic one. A bootlegger model. That's what I wanted to say. All right. Yeah, cool. Thank you. Yeah, thank you. So I mean, we got, like I said, this is the, that's the wheater. That's the almost eight and a half year Southern Distilling wheater. This is kind of similar to where we're at right now. This is, got it? One of my first group picks when we shifted to the Cleveland Barrel Hunter. I have that does estate sales and cleanouts. He's like, yeah, I got a bunch of junk bottles if you want to come take a look. It crazy in 2026 that we have this market that's still for this estate style homes that this stuff has been sitting in a basement or in a garage and these poor wives that when the husband passes away have no idea what to do with it. ⁓ They have somebody in the family that's given them a little bit of help to get rid of this stuff. And they really just reach out online and different facets. ⁓ This is an off profile bookers. I don't have to tell you. You'll know right away. Very vibes kind of. to find somebody that can catch an ad or an offering like that. And then that's kind of what he did. And he's got this like guy that he works with now that is in Indiana. This guy has just insane collection of original bottles from way back then, decanters, mint, tax strips. So just a lot of stuff that is still sitting in these homes that people have no idea. It's crazy. It's crazy. Yeah. To imagine just leaving that, living in a house that long, but let alone just leaving that in a cupboard somewhere and having no idea what it is. When did you pick this? was almost year ago. Okay. Yeah. that no one knows, known as Nightcap. There's a friend of a friend that came up with that, cause two things I don't care is what it's called and what the hell is on the label. I care about what's in the bottle. I mean, we, you know, we work so hard nowadays and just to have a little bit of money to have a hobby like this. We're so blessed crazy. Yeah. Just to relax at the end of the day and have some incredible stuff. And then you these guys that are up at four o'clock in the morning standing in line to get the 25 D's to stay. And I'm like, I don't know. It's, mean, it's such a subjective hobby, but people will find their own lane. I think at some point and kind of stick with that. try to get my bourbon buddies to deviate because I'm not a big game hunter. I'm a, I like the craft distillery. I like the NDPs. I like blends, stuff like that. There's the beam note. yeah. You weren't kidding about it, man. I mean, what a flavor bomb. Yeah. It's just I have buddies that are like, oh, no, being one. like beam. put that into a Glen and it is like, what is this? Yeah. It's so it's still got a little bit of that earthy beam thing to it. But man, absolutely. Yep. But I think the vanilla just kind of runs with it. It's so good. Caramel. Yeah. They finally, you know, open up to it at some point and give it a chance and then they're like, wow, this is like incredible stuff. It's like, He's got an old milk glass one up here that is old. That is my favorite thing that I've ever had. It's unreal how just again, it sits around forever. I don't think it's like clearly not aging, but at a certain point I just how it gets that good is unreal to me. I mean, this knows on this is like a dusty Rick house. Like you close your eyes. Holy cow, could be anywhere. It's visually and mentally going to take you there. Yeah, that was wild. Man. And that's kind of what I've been blessed to get on a lot of my profiles for the stuff I've been pulling out of River Roots. Not so much on the wilderness trail pick that I did. It's a little bit sweeter and has a kind of vanilla soft touch to it. But these off profile like bookers and stuff, they really have this incredible profile that's very reminiscent of what we're sipping on because it just has this one of the glasses empty and you sit there, you're like, it just keeps coming. And you're like, holy cow, this is everything you want. Yeah. never really, I chew on it a little bit or this or that, but when you suck some air, there's something like this. It's like, I don't just like an eye open. It's like wakes it up to your entire, the entire ⁓ profile on you're drinking. Yeah. Well, this thing, it's like. Again, I just... I... Like I just, again, just the way it ⁓ on the palate, the way it. And then I feel like it just slowly, the warm slowly migrated to the back of throat. Yep. but flavor just kind of stayed with you. When you're flat, you're alive, starts hitting you, you're kind of chewing on it and it starts to sit back a little bit. You get that light Kentucky hug down the belly. Yeah. Yeah. a good starter. Good all there Dan. to you. We're gonna be going through these. have a feeling today. Yeah, Bob brought over extra glasses just in case. I know. I always get my jaw chopped about having so many glasses because I have the multi-tier thing in the corner and it's just full of glasses. It's going going. And it's usually just me and a couple buddies. Yeah. What the hell you doing? Because you never know. You never know. So I listened to a podcast probably a year ago about Wilderness Trail and the guy that started it. Yeah. And he was a What's the proof on that one? 125, 126. That's the part that- Do you taste it? Do you taste the 125? No. It's crazy. That's the part that was my short circuit. Cause I'm thinking like, this is like, again, there's some really good stuff out there, but we just keep going up and this is an easy sip. That's the part that kills me about this. He had a background in agriculture and sciences for- Chemistry and yeah, same guys. They were actually bought out by Campari too long ago. And the kid that does the single barrel program, he's incredible. I've known him for years. So I went down there years ago with a lot of local groups and we would do ⁓ barrel picks and he's still down there, Riley. He's just an incredible kid. ⁓ you you go down there and it's super casual and they have like this old- And that's my ultimate goal with the group and flying solo now and running a solo for the last six to eight months and doing the picks that I've been doing by myself. I try to get as many people involved as I can in the group. Obviously I've made my bones or my reputation on picking incredible barrels for other groups. I've been blessed, like I said, to do a lot of picks at River Roots. Groups will know who I am and then they'll message me and be like, Hey, we're going to be in town Tuesday for a pick. Can you do it? I'm like, I'll find a way. I will. find a way. And then I'll go over there and then. Like it's, want to say it's like the thirties style brick house where they kind of have their offices and these like cigar lounge chairs and couches where you just melt into the couch and you're like, well, I'm not going anywhere. Just bring me whiskey. And that's literally what happens. It's an incredible, it's still one of my favorite places to do picks. So when I went down there and then my time at the time, my counterpart, Matt, he, he, we were doing picks of like four, five, this is a four year whiskey. That's just. They'll kind of I really find it fascinating now how these guys will sit together and they'll be like in totally different directions. It's and then they'll go Jason, what do you think? And I'll give my two cents and then all of a sudden they're all over. we're like, yeah, that kind of is the best barrel when you put it that way. Yeah. And I try to be as humble as possible, but I'm sitting there just like, I think this one, you know what I mean? Just pointing like this one. Yeah. no. back this way. ⁓ Yeah. Yeah. a total idiot. I'm like, kind of everything you want in a sipper, a regular sipper, something you can go back to in, I it's like four years and 11 months. It's four years, seven months. But people will get so caught up on each statements. But if you did that in the blind, you'd be like, oh, is so enjoyable. Yeah, you wouldn't know any different. So. Well, and I, and I did read or hear that they do the lower entry, barrel entry proof when they, when they do their whiskey. It's not, um, And once you start presenting the notes for people and people start picking up on them, it just opens their world to what they're actually tasting. You get more of the oils and the natural abstraction from the barrels, which is, think is the way to go. But because you come in super hot and you got to bring it down, it's you're taken away from the profile. ⁓ you want to do? Yeah, absolutely. mean, I feel like River Roots has done it right now too at this point. Like of all the drama and all the headaches going on right now, I feel like they found a way to be able to, like they're consistent. They are. They're very consistent in what they're picking. Ryan Lentz and Tom Gray, do an incredible job on picking. Ryan travels and picks the barrels and they have samples and just the whole gamut. they open all the doors and dig as deep as they can. And they've just been really fortunate to find the right stuff and it's paid off for them. Obviously. So when you guys do your typical, ⁓ your daily pours, do you guys mix it up a little bit? Do you guys start out with usually the same thing? No, we normally mix it up, I think. They've only been around two years now, little less than two years. Back when they first opened up and nobody knew who they were, I did a lot of running for them. became with them real fast and would buy bottles and text buddies and message buddies and ran a ton of stuff for them. I became the River Roots guy ⁓ in lot of my circles and stuff. ⁓ It's to see the evolution and then... It really depends on what we're doing. think, though, too. Like, if we know we're getting into some of the older or fancier stuff, I think we usually try and set something. Go a little lighter. Yeah. So I'm the guy when you come over for the bottle shares, just, like, I start pouring a bunch of stuff for you right away. I'm like, you gotta try this, you gotta try that, you gotta try this. And then it escalates very rapidly. He can't stop. where they were presenting this stuff that's like eight to 10 years for like 60 bucks a bottle. It's crazy. And now that it's been a couple of years and they've kind of got bigger and they're a business. Everything's going up. Prices go up. People are like, ⁓ now Riverwood just charging this and charging that. And it's like, no escaping it. Like there is no escaping it. You have to ⁓ by what the current market forces you to do. Businesses need to make to make a profit. Yes, sir. Yeah, I always feel bad. It's a tough pill to swallow. Yeah, then shipping. And now that they're obviously in an NDP that's kind of blew up over the last year or so, they have to use a distributor. This is a small operation. There's literally four five people that work with that. I know everybody there. Like people don't understand. Like they can't, when you get hot like that, essentially overnight, but it's been almost a year, you gotta outsource some services and then that stuff is not free. It is not cheap, but you will get it in the hands of like, I have buddies in San Diego. I have a large contingent of people in my group that are from the San Diego Fire Department. don't know where they came from. They're all incredible people and they are super receptive to all my picks, which is incredible. And I greatly appreciate it. like getting a river route to San Diego and Florida and you know, that's the snowball effect. That's what you want. Especially being a Cleveland based company, because I'm Cleveland, to a T. I love my city. I've traveled all over. I've lived out West. Sucks me right back. Yeah. Good people. It's affordable and crazy. little deeper than these other neighborhoods and stuff. It's like when you were breaking down in Youngstown and how it is currently from where it was. ⁓ I love that stuff. That's awesome. That's just Midwest living now. You're exactly right. You go to East Coast, you go to West Coast, you're like, you that's so boring and slow. I'll take ⁓ Well, every Sunday in the fall, Bob and I start, beginning of the fall starts okay, but by the end of the fall, we're... bitching at each other back and forth about the leaves, the browns, and the browns. Yeah, your sports teams. It's horrible. Well, I'm a product of the late 80s, early 90s, so I'm a diehard Bills fan. You fell out of that early. The early 90s was tough as a young, influential kid that's running up the stairs to rip down posters because the damn football went to the left of the goal post, right of the goal post, and that thing. Yeah, we live that. Yeah. Yeah, it was tough years, and somehow they don't get any easier at this point either. They do not. So the weeded one. you said you sold out of both of these, right? The notice nightcap is gone. I do have a couple of the weeded left that kept for myself in reserve. I kept about a case of them. I think I have like four left. Ironically enough to do this today, I literally had three messages last night. Like, hey, I another wheater in my life because I've been hyping up what's coming next. My next wheater, the double-oaked wheater, which I think is going to be, it's going to smash ⁓ anything I've ever that's just my opinion. ⁓ wait to get that in the hands of the group. But yes, so I some of the wilderness trail. I have a couple of the double oak backbone, which is really cool. That's a rye. We'll get there at some point. But the wheaters, the wheaters are so hot right now across the board. Like there's the Bernheim coming out, the age one, which I thought was a little underwhelming, but it's nice to see come out there. I mean, I started back the day with. with old makers marks and stuff like that, just sitting on shelves at my uncle's houses and taking a sip of this or a sip of that. Well, I thought my both are wheater fans. OK, good. But I'm also, I think, learning that I'm a double Oaks fan. Yeah. ⁓ boy. If I could see a combination. Yeah, it's coming. Hello. Yeah, I would like that. So like I mentioned before, it's probably at about 26 days in the second barrel. So what it is, it's a Southern Distilling wheater that's almost nine years that is in a Hazmat Barton barrel, a 14 year Hazmat Barton barrel is just turning into this orange custardy, dusty, dusty Rick house vibes. It is so dang good. ⁓ I mentioned, I pulled the original sample just to see. the evolution from where it was. So this is the original run of Southern Distilling that River Roots did. And then this is this B batch, the second batch. So mean, if you want to go there, we can go there. Sure. Yeah. ⁓ So do you have Barrel's Agent at your place or like? so had it, it's my basement. have my own rec house. We actually a beautiful bar in my basement that I don't go anywhere. Cause it's all packed up with. Yeah, so yeah. that's, it's like said, I'm the king of the- She's gonna keep twisting the knife while she's sitting here The shin high shelfer ⁓ in the store. Like the king of that. that's funny. wow. wow. I checked that box. I was curious if you had it at 107 or not, too. Like I was curious. Yeah. What's it feel like in 109? I feel like that's what everybody's been doing. Everybody just ends up on us conveniently ends up at 107. Well, I was an ambassador for Pursuit Spirits. I love those guys, Kenny and Ryan, and that 108 proof point for them was so money. It was so money for everything that they had. And Ryan is a blender is just he's incredible. The nose on this is a little bit different than what I would have expected. a lot more faint notes, but if you keep going back into it, you can kind of pick up something different every time. Man, Yeah. So I'm getting like a toasted toffee, like like caramel brittle. You know, like that. Yeah. Yeah. With the little bit of nut in it. And yeah. Yes. That is. And the legs on this is another one. Yeah. I mean, the legs on this thing for not even officially a nine year. The other distilleries, the Paragon, they're one of my personal favorite distilleries. They're so incredible. Oh, that's good. And this is one that just is so consistent. A lot of stuff will open up and change a little bit. This is so consistent. This is my second bottle of this. But it is... consistently what it is and it's so dang good. And it doesn't need to be anything else in my opinion. wow. I Steph needs to come try this. She she wasn't a bourbon drinker and I kind of. She started a couple of things she liked. She's coming over to the dark side. This is how soft is this stuff? Yeah, that's the part that it's the ultimate thing. It is so soft. Man. It's got little bit of that wheat funk in the initial and once that dissipates, it's... Yeah, but I don't think it's... To your point, it's a little bit. I don't think it's... It's very soft. Yeah. So I love the flavor that I'm getting at the top back of my roof of my mouth. Like it just turns to that nice dark caramel brittle and almost chocolate. Yep. And is just phenomenal. When you said brittle, that made me smile because that was ⁓ the initial tasting note that I had for this. Oh yeah. That's a very good one. thought that a summon. Yeah, try that. Summoned. Arm twisting. So it's good though. So like I said, this is the A batch. So this will be the B batch. So this is the new batch. And what they did with these, they actually had 22 barrels. But seven of them, or nine of them, seven of them, seven of them had experimental staves in it. And this was one of them. So I was blessed enough to go with Ryan. He called me on a Saturday night and said, hey, what are you doing? And I said, What do need? So we went over there and there was six of us. We broke down all 22 barrels and this was the allotment that I went through before things went drastically south. yes. So this was one of the one of my favorites from the go. Yeah. And it's like I said, so we'll be interesting to see what you guys compared to this compared to this, which is just a straight almost nine year Southern distilling wheater. OK. ⁓ I'm going to save that one. I'm coming back to that one. I'm going to want to compare. I'm out of glass. got more of it. I don't have to go to the box. Here, here, we can go get these. Okay. In little bit different shape. So as you can see, I this wasn't initially full not too long ago when I... haven't liked it at all? No. ⁓ morning the drive down. Before I opened up my bubble this morning, I went straight to this. Pulled the out of my pocket. We gotta make sure it's clean. Dan, this is I cleanse my soul. That's how you keep close to your heart. Yes. Put it right there in the pocket. There's actually, if you want more, there's enough here to kill this, so help yourself. different. Like I'm just going back and forth. ⁓ So I'm getting more caramel on the nose. I think that a little extra aging does. It presents itself to be a little thicker than the other one. ⁓ wow. does. Wow. I'm in. It's crazy, isn't it? Yeah. Dang, they're good. That's good. Southern Stealing is so dang good. They keep sneaking out random stuff, too. That's the part that, I mean, you always hear about all these other folks that are producing stuff, but somehow it's always them that comes out ahead. Like, it's just, I don't know. And especially the older and older and stuff they get is like, just doesn't miss. And like, I'm not the biggest on finished stuff, obviously, as you can tell by my traditional style profile, which is my preference, but they did the honey finish. is so dang, and it was distillery only. They were the small bottles and I got a couple of them. like I said, once they cut, it's softer. It's not overly done. It's not overly sweet. It doesn't feel like it was like a good times gimmicky kind of flavor, more of a natural honey, which is. So I am not a finished bourbon person either. I just don't like wine. I don't either. The port finish and all those finishes, I'm glad people do enjoy them. For the people putting them out, obviously. So we did a podcast, a gentleman down in Florida sent up samples and we did a Armin Yak. Oh, okay. It's gone. We'd offer you some, it's gone. We like it. We can smell it. But it was famous last words. Yeah, it was phenomenal. mean, so you're out of though. Oh, yeah. Yeah, I'm familiar with them. Yeah. So Dan from OADE is going to be on our podcast in April. Oh, killer. Yeah, he's got some incredible stuff. So I have a few different groups that are really into their stuff right now. Obviously, following them on social media with the blue labels and really cool stuff. But I was really surprised because I'm not a wine person, but that was just... It was just different enough and like I... just, I don't know, it was sneaky good. So I'm also a rum guy. So I have some very old Cuban rums and stuff like that that's so complimentary of this, but this of stuff just keeps going and going and where rum kind of falls off or it's a better mixer than this or that. wow. Yeah. That dusty Rick House nose is... Yeah. ⁓ It's crazy. very reminiscent of that on the nose, that dusty Rick house. Yeah, I can't wait. I can't wait till the evolution of this. You want to go back in? in now. OK, so yeah, we're at about 22, 24. I'm in about 22, 24 days. I checked it. it's better than this? It's I will say that. ⁓ It's it. It keeps that dustiness that ⁓ Rick Yeah. It's got like a more of an orange peel. Smooth zest. that pushes forward and you're like, holy smokes. Yeah. And I was getting that and that's why I get a lot of the orange zest on the Fitzgerald stuff. yes. Very reminiscent of that. OK, yeah, we're going to have to pull that. Told you it's my favorite. Wheaters and Wheaters nowadays at that 8 to 10 year mark. Man, they're they go toe to toe with anything. Everything, yeah. Wow, that was crazy good. Fantastic. All right, so yeah, so I mean the vote we have left here, so. We did a tasting at Leather and Oak down in Hilliard, which is down by Columbus. Steve is incredible. His wife's fantastic. They just put out just a really hospitable environment for tasting. 100 % corn whiskey. It was sourced and distilled through Middle West, which Middle West is doing fantastic stuff right now. I think they, really have, I mean, a lot of people gravitate to that pumpernickel rye, which I think for me is not my jam, but I know a lot of people love that. And obviously with the purchase of old elk and I lived out in Colorado for years. So elk was just everywhere out there. So this is the sample I pulled. This is something I was going to bring to the group. Still, maybe possibly away. Yeah. But I definitely wanted to pull a sample just cause of how much I enjoyed it. I'm gonna be impressed you get this good. ⁓ look at you. I am not gonna get this good. the are. The dimensions not on your side. makes fun of me. ⁓ you're horrible. Worse than this. this is like. Yeah, but you're working against it on ⁓ the geometry of whole thing is your problem. He can't get that out of a normal bottle. Thank you. I'm pouring this so I can my eyes closed. That's what they invented bar towels for. I'll try it. I hate to waste percent. I'm the linen guy so that works out. I know I gotta clean them. got you. I know a guy. Mmm, orangey. Yes. Wow. Yeah, I didn't want to say anything but I was gonna. Wow. 100 % corn whiskey. Crazy, it? Yeah. is this like? It's like a left in corn but good Because Steve he goes well I got the sheep he goes I'll tell you this it's ten plus years Yeah, it's the only thing he would not tell us Yeah. ⁓ wow. Sneaky. Man. That is not terribly dark. mean, really good legs. Nothing. The palette was so much sweeter than what I was anticipating. Yeah, that's that 100 % corn man. It's just but it wasn't. ⁓ It's not a bit obnoxious Castle in Key. Sweet ⁓ fake. The table. Yeah. These are all things that we've killed. no, that's not going back. that's going over there. Well, see, that's my problem. Because I'm not afraid to go down that road, but I have cabinets like that. That's the problem. So the house was built in 1926 or 27. It's got a prohibition closet up front. Oh my goodness. That's incredible. So normally the stuff I don't like, I stick up there. Yeah, yeah. But at least it's in a cold room. Yeah. But I didn't even want to walk that up there. Yeah, it sat there. Is that the wheater? Yeah. OK, yeah. It's like an earthy dirtiness that just doesn't go away. If I remember, I haven't had that for a while. Dirty socks. Dirty socks. And I went into a whole dissertation on what dirty socks is. We'll let you try No, I've had that. No need. Thank you though. I appreciate the offer. I knew exactly what it was when I turned and looked at it. I was like, oh, that's the leader. Yeah. God bless whoever loves it. high hopes. then, right. Yeah. Yeah. Or as they say down south, oh bless their heart. Bless their heart. know, it's because I used to travel for work and I used to, when they used to buy up smaller companies, I worked for a corporate company at the time. And, uh, Memphis, Tennessee is Everything you envision the South back in the day. Everybody is so sweet. Yes, sir. No, sir. Would you like some sweet tea, I'm like, can I get a water? Well, I don't have any water. have some sweet tea, though. And I'm everywhere you want. Everybody was so polite. ⁓ it's like the poorest city in the country. It's all. Tennessee is a gem. I like this. will say I think the age does this one out of it. I think this is this was a couple years. You wouldn't have the profile that on it. Yeah, it would be way more bite year. Yeah, this is harder and a little bit tannic. This is like that's all gone. Yeah. Sure, we're six bottles in, but. No, but still. But still. ⁓ no, this is, I mean. I mean, our palates are absolutely in the sweet spot right now for whatever we have to get the most out of what we're trying. crazy. That nose is like. Yeah, that's the part. This reminds me, you ⁓ the Armagnacs. Couple of those that we had, those samples were just ⁓ off profile, but unbelievably just crazy. ⁓ What was the year I was you remember on that? That one was 38. Yeah. That's awesome. I just I love stuff like that. So he's setting up some samples. He's like, what year were you born? I'm like, when we were born in 77 and he's like, all right, I'll take care of you. So he's sending us up some 77 samples. Yeah. Yeah. 70 wild turkey was like the one or the 78 anything was really what I was always looking for being or something like that, because that's when I was born. So yeah. Well, we've got some 75 and 76 old granddad. are so consistent though. They are. I know this is like never would I thought that something single malt I Just man, I'm really surprised and impressed by that. Yeah, it's like There's no variance. You know, I mean, yeah, it is but yeah, it's damn good. Yeah, especially 10 plus years Yeah, there she is Try this one too. Thanks for stopping Thanks for coming in. Corn whiskey. Leather and oak out of Hilliard, That is fantastic. So they have a pretty decent following in the Columbus area. They're on all the Kroger's grocery stores, but they have a lower shelf proof, is like 86 % proof. I'm sorry. But I pulled also, I didn't bring it down, a cash strength ride that he's got. is insane. Not for me. No? Not for you. That's okay. It's really interesting. It is. nose! The silence is deafening, Or else they're here with their noses in a glass like, wow. Wow. I can't get over the nose. If could somehow pass this through the camera. Yeah. We're talking we need to find it. I've never had a good bourbon candle like they're somehow they're never right like trying to get this right is yes secret So there's a there's a candle place that yeah is in East Palisades, Ohio that friends of Arizona But actually grown ⁓ pretty large 1820 candle company So I was just down there the other day and she's ⁓ ordering the oils in and everything else so she can start to make Instead of instead of blending bourbon. I also ordered a tasting kit so that we can compare. Yeah. So that we can say, all right, my goal is I want to have like a 10 year. Is the husband of a guy? Yes. So he's going to be behind her the whole time. Yeah. She drinks bourbon too. ⁓ cool. So I want to have like a 10 year, a 12 year. They know what they're looking for them. Yeah. ⁓ that's cool. How exciting. Yeah. But you're right you go to these distilleries and you pay $38 for a candle that's like this you get it home and you're like what the hell is this? That's not right. No, no. Like literally just make Rick House. Just make that. Rick House. Which is if you kind of see the theme from my picks here, I mean, it's self-explanatory that that dusty Rick House finish that sits in glasses. It's a great point. It's at the end. Like my favorite pour of all time is the 17-year KOK. 2020-22. Okay. It is so reminiscent of the glass itself. Keeping that enjoying pork going is essentially what I look for. I've learned that I really like corns. 100 % yeah. So Gary Bungarner who owns Wood Hat too, I don't if you're familiar with Wood Hat, but he's the same way. He's like the... The guru, he's in the lab with his corns and purple corn and red corn and blue corn and he's got some incredible stuff too. It's the same way, it's 100 % corn whiskey and it's just like. I don't realize that guy's getting as low as it is. Oh, there's. Oh, I'm sad. All right, I'm gonna go grab. You pull out a trumpet when you pour your last I have more here. I should. I have more here. You have more? Yeah. Yeah. No, cannot let that die. Do not. No. Hey Dan, why is your flag at Hashtag? Um, we finished the old fifth. Fly the whole neighborhood to Yeah, Candlelight vigil. Tiny, tiny, tiny, tiny. Save it, tiny. Just give me a splash. Yeah, there you go. Good. Don't waste that on me. Especially this far in. can't get over this thing. this is Bob's favorite. It's in my top three. Yeah. But ⁓ literally just want my water. ⁓ an idiot. Was it his goodest note? That's water. It's got a of minerals. That's very mountainous. But yeah, this is the Monticello. Cool. It's. Yeah, I'm going to decanter, guys. So that's I have a couple that are really old ones. Wow, is that nice? Yeah. So you're 68. Still 62. 68. How's the cork on it? Good. Oh, yeah. Wow. Yeah, it was crazy. It's thinned out a bit, but that's the glass one is like a dream spirits when they use the glass glass toppers. It's like this one. That one's no. Glass glass. That's all glass. Wow. That's super cool. Because you know, expensive in the timeframe to make this is like crazy. Yeah. This is the old school. It was funny when we were down there, he's like, we had some of these old bottles we found out in bottle Like you have that. So yeah, went down to Logsdale distillery, which is the original JW Dant distillery. Yeah. ⁓ And Wally JW Wally Dant. took us around and did a whole big tour. did a podcast. yeah, I was. It ⁓ was long day. You see the memory hit him. said, ⁓ that was such a good day. Yeah. So we're going to dinner that night. He's driving because I because everybody kept passing their glasses to me. Yeah. We were in the Rick house doing some tastings like your day. finished this. So we're to dinner in Lexington and. Use out. pastor. I'm sluggish. Yeah. Pop right back up though. Ready for dinner. Let's go. Yeah, but he has eyes closed as he was reminiscing about the hour before. Yeah. That's all it was. Because he couldn't remember anything after the problem. forgot it. hilarious. This is the softest, tastiest. it's even I don't know how. I don't know how to say this, but not like in a negative way. It reminds me of like a car wash smell. Yeah. with the suds and soaps of a car wash? But like in a really positive way. dumb is that? I said it was like caramel with a little orange zest. Yeah. And a bit of dusty note on top. Just a touch, yeah. Wow. This is going to be a lower proof, yeah? I think it's a hundred. I remember. Yeah, nothing back then was. Yeah, yeah, nothing was. Holy moly. It's a little bit of a, like a woodsy vibe. Yeah. Yeah. Wow. It's just, it's just a six year old. You know, it's the, yeah. I don't know if it's the bottle. I don't know if it's the time. I don't know if it's just different enough. It is. And soft. That's the part that Soft is like the biggest word for it. I just can't get over how easy on the palate that is. Out of everything else. Yeah, that is A-okay. Yeah. That's good. Yeah. All right. So last but not least for what I have to offer is we run. How low are we running? I got one left, two left here. Got one left. mean, I can rinse glasses. I got one. It a bit of a left turn, obviously being a rye. That's OK. Like ⁓ Dan's with the double oak. It is double oak rye. Eight and a years. ⁓ It is. ⁓ Nolan does an incredible job. think Backbone is just one of those ones in Indiana that's just so dang good. He uses a lot of aged MGP to kind of do different things with. one I did with the Southern Elite Tasting House. brother's down in ⁓ He a store. There's a guy in Florida. There's a guy in Columbus. They kind of all work together. do this. She's tight boy. She is tight. So the feedback I've gotten on this, because this is my most recent drop, been absolutely incredible. We a great guy in our group, Jeff. He posted ⁓ a picture when he got it the other day, and then he posted a picture yesterday, and I'm not even kidding. There might have been 10 % left. ⁓ I go, you're digging that? Send me two more now or I'm in trouble. This is crazy. I can't get over how dark that is, Yeah, the color on this is like... So yeah, you're about eight and a half years in the rye and then it's just, it's finishing a light toast barrel. Must have been able to pull, because there was less char, it just pulled more out of it. Yeah, double barreled rye. The bone snapper. what a great note. I know. Wow. feel like you get the right taste without the super right bite on it. Yeah, yes. It's a great way to put it. So I'm not more, I'm not a really earthy or spicy kind of rye. like the kind of like sadness right? Like the 99 % green river rise or incredible 100 % green river rise. Clearly count. You can get all the flavor still. And you still have these? Mm-hmm. Sent you. Yeah. We'll be up that way. I sold out my lot to my group, but the guys that my buddy Keith in Columbus has, quite a few of those. Okay. I think I have one in the car and I have one in the wilderness trail in the car that I just keep up. Because when I do biomeetups for local guys in Cleveland, they're just like, oh, that's the wilderness trail or that's the bone snapper. I'm like, yeah. He goes, well, I'll grab one. Yeah, I think we're gonna do that. Grab those. The color is just, that's the part, Yeah. Oh, wow. It's another one, right? The legs on it, like it just sticks to the glass. And what that does is mirror to your tongue, your palate. We always talk that we don't love Rye's. We taste a whole lot of Rye's when we do these things. But yet, I don't. I'm never gonna say they're grown on me, but this is yeah But problem with rise in my opinion is not being a big ride guys you have to try a thousand to get to find you like yeah, you know what mean and With my previous group that I ran for while before I kind of left to do my own thing ⁓ we did a whiskey thief right and Out of all the barrels we tried I was like I can't believe that's my favorite. Yes, it's very bourbon forward right and Long story the guy that I ended up leaving the group to he got it in the hands of Brewzle At the Canton Festival bourbon whiskey festival. He did a review on his channel and said it was the best thing He had ever had from that distillery. It's crazy. That was the barrel I picked which was a rye Super sweet super compliment on the palate. It's just so good But this is got a little it's got a little bit of a bite that sits on the tongue. Yeah, but not not nothing. Yeah Man What's the proof on that? I think it's one four fifteen or one twenty... One twenty four. One twenty five. Yeah. I to one twenty five, but yeah. That's sippable. Yeah. Like dangerous good. Yeah. So of all the stuff that I have of my most recent picks, what would you say is your favorite? I mean, I think I know where Dan's going, but... The wheater was darn good. Well, I will take... Yeah, right. not going home with anything. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. We'll fist fight you. That's why they're here. Enjoy them. Yeah. ⁓ wow. That is... There not a bad pick here. Every single I enjoyed. Yeah, and to your point, it's got a bunch of different... There's a bunch of different stuff here. None of those are... Absolute variance. Yeah. think. Yeah, As you kind of pick through them, you get the softness of the ⁓ very to the wild turkey kind of, even though it's pre wild turkey. You got the dusty bookers, which is kind of like off profile bookers, which is great. You got the ⁓ leather oak, a hundred percent corn whiskey, which just has this incredible sweetness that kind of dances on your profile. The two Southern distilling waders just super enjoyable from the get-go and kind of lingers around. And then. ⁓ Obviously it took a little bit of a left turn with the double oak rye. But not, but it's not, it's not overwhelming. Yes. So that double oak rye actually was just such a nice surprise. Is it the pick or is it the double oak? it? So it's a light toast. So they're softly pulling them, pulling that rye away from them, creating that sweetness in the barrel. Man. So I think I like the light toasted, you know, that's more of like that log still. Yeah. thing for me. That might be exactly why you like it too. Yeah. So we went down to the log stove story because my grandpa loved the old school JW Dan. Yeah. And so that's kind of what I was raised with. But it had that that toasted charred, know, the very, very dark flavors in it. It's nothing better than Kessler. I had an uncle that was his jam, the Kessler. He'd have 84 beers and then we'd all have to have a shot of Kessler, did Chris in the night. plastic bottles before there's plastic bottles. You love me in any capacity because this glass does not tell me you do. We Malort. We got some more of us. We aunt lives in Chicago, so I was younger. ⁓ Holy ⁓ Yeah, it. And it's band-aid. Yeah. Your tire in your mouth. Nothing better. So when we went down to meet Wally, know, that's one of the things I, I just, I really liked that taste. And I think when I can pick it up in certain places, just perfect. Yeah. So this is, you know, when this is gone, I'll be sad, but 19, the 1939 distilled 1944 Old Crow. How cool is it by the way? Yup. That's fantastic. great thing about this is it's pre atomic bomb distillation then post World War Two. So you think you think of the year and you think of the time period, but it's still embossed. It's got an embossed bottom. like absolutely fantastic. technology that we have today to be able to do this stuff back then. That's ⁓ the same So that J.W. Dan. Like, yeah, those are guys were hand blowing stuff at a certain point. I mean, like That's a full-time job just making bottles. Yeah, there's no machine back then that was just making this. I don't know if you guys can see the shape of this bottle, but holy The way it's concave on the sides. Yeah, it's crazy. Yeah, I mean, I'm sure they had mold or something blown into This is like, I see you got a lot of the dark arts here. This is kind of like McCauley's thing with the glass topper, the heavy topper on it. But this is what we're talking. Yeah, yeah. So this has a tax stamp that says 16 cents. tax paid. So is that during the medicinal period? Well 1944, so this would have been distilled six years after prohibition ended. Everybody's just getting back into the distilled. Amazing. So get, well, I'll let you try it. ⁓ yeah. I mean you get dusty Rick house right off the rip. Yep. Yeah. Wow. A lot of the stuff that I have, so Brad Bond, I don't know if you guys are familiar with Revival. Yeah. So Brad's incredible. So my buddy Alex, I linked them two up together. Those two are two peas in a pod. But Revival down in Covington, Kentucky is a place that if you are a bourbon lover, you need to get to. ⁓ puts on an absolute incredible presentation. You're about the value is unbeatable to me in my opinion ⁓ for that you have never even knew existed until you sit down on a bar stool in that place. Yeah. Anyways, he is all that pre-prohibition and stuff, the other vintage stuff. That is exactly what you get from the rip on something like this. That's sweeter than I thought it would be. Holy moly. So I'll let you tell me what you think you get, then I'll tell you what I get. It's a little bit of a short finish, I will say. It hits you immediately. So for me, the finish is still going, but it's not the initial hit. So on the initial hit, get, to me, a lot of cardamom. And then you get a very subtle, sweet finish that lasts. step in though, it's definitely longer than the initial, which interesting. Because you think it would be what it is when you first initially get to it, but ⁓ now going. Yeah. Wow. It just sits right on the old tongue, doesn't it? Yeah. Yeah, that's good. Paid $11 for that. Did you? Yeah. Well, you robbed him blind, didn't you? Well, honestly, in fact, I didn't know what I was getting at that point in time. I'm like, oh. Low risk, high reward. Yeah. Yeah. And then once I could see it, oh, man. Which is wild because I mean you're not talking something so old you're not talking about terribly dark I mean you're kind of like all that which I think for the time period a lot of that stuff was kind of similar not terribly dark not terribly light, but it is what it is. Yeah And if you look at your glass, yeah Still holding gonna go. Yeah. Yeah. Well, that's good soft, too. Yeah ⁓ Yeah, not as soft as that other one, but I agree with you. It's got to just be the age. Yeah, it's got to be the age. Low entry proof, whatever that thing is. Right. Well, what an enjoyable journey. Yeah. Thank you. Yeah. Thank you for having me. Thanks for coming. The flight itself is just phenomenal. I think it's done right, right? mean, you of, build up to where you get to the peak profile and then once you get past the peak profile, it's all shenanigans and bullshit anyway. But this is kind of, we've kind of honed in on enjoying every one as we started. I mean, obviously prepping the pallet there and kind of building up to the peak. Oh man. That's a good ride. That's a crazy good ride. fantastic ride. It is, yeah. I've never said those words before. Yeah. I never said those words before. Yeah. That's like me. Well, if you've got an extra one of those in the truck. Yes, sir. I do. think we need to add that to the... Yeah. You guys know how to Roman wrestle? guys know how to... I only got one, but yeah. Perfect. Well, Yeah. Dan, thank you, sir, for having me. for coming. Appreciate it. Beautiful setting. Please like. Subscribe follow comment share. I will share it on all my social medias Cleveland barrel hunter. No s Discord Instagram Facebook group is private, but if you hit me up Love to have everybody a little over 700 and kind of approaching eight hundred seven fifty ish. I saw some so Slow slow roll. I haven't been any I've been around a year. So awesome. Perfect. Thanks for coming. Yeah. Thank you for coming. Appreciate you having me. We'll put the Everybody's links and links in the notes. So please like and subscribe and we'll follow you. Absolutely. Maybe we can do something in the future for a pick. ⁓ Love to have you guys on a pick. We've taught this is has been like our dream. Yeah, this is the next ⁓ step. And were we were even talking with Wally about. doing one so this is this is I see I saw the the walk-ins you have in here I got a couple people in my um discord that are really big in the walk-ins that are like please do a walk-in single barrel please do there's there's a lot of a lot of out there to pick from so we're gonna start picking some of that fruit but I don't do I'm not a big game hunter although I will say a little bit of a sneak uh behind the curtain thing I do have an opportunity coming with a monster game hunter that knock on wood comes to fruition because of some unfortunate circumstances, but generally I wouldn't hunt that stuff. This is my jam. So is what I made my bones on. So I'm excited. Way nice job. ⁓ you. good. Excellent. Appreciate it. And continue to help yourself. ⁓ Thank ⁓ Well, a good day and thanks for watching. Good night everybody.