George T. Stagg 2023 vs 2025; Ep. 70

Dan and Bob: Good evening. How's everybody tonight? Hey, welcome. Bourbon Brass and Beyond. We're back. It's been a minute. It's been busy. It's been a couple of weeks since for me and you for sure. It's been busy. man, what I don't even know where to start. It so many things. Yeah. It it is You actually worked. Yeah. How dare you? So I worked and then we had a bunch of meetings that I had to go out for. I've had family stuff going on. Yeah. And then every weekend packed. Packed. It's been a funeral every day. Yeah. For the last two weeks. Yeah. And then Yeah, just running crazy. So we've been busy. Obviously with kids, that's just enough to keep it busy. and then my work has been super, super busy. We're launching new clients like crazy, which is a good problem, but still it's just busy. So the l Lisa was all excited. I said, What do we have this weekend? Nothing. She was out with a couple girlfriends last night and like it's so nice to not have to be busy or like I mean, I've been setting up and tearing down for parties both weekends the last two weekends and It's just it it's busy. Yeah. So Well and tomorrow so Wesley for football, they have their spaghetti dinner fundraiser. I saw it. I didn't see what day it was. One to four PM. Okay. It's takeout spaghetti dinner and then each family donates a basket to be donated. So we don't I saw it. A basket that's got Eagle Rare, Weller Special Reserve, Lantons, and Buffalo Trace. And Chalet Premier, thank you. Yes. Donated a hat and a shirt. I threw in a bourbon brass and beyond shirt and some stickers and so next thing. Yeah. Should be a good basket. Yeah. So we have that. Wyatt's girlfriend's parents are picking him up at two. boy. And then the rest of us are going down to another funeral in East Liverpool. And for my karate instructor from the time I was kid six years old to Yeah. Till I was in my twenties. I mean Tom. So Tom Smith, studied with Bill Adams and Chuck Norris. Jeez. You know, so that's kind of our lineage. Yeah. Just sad. He was a deputy sheriff, drug task force, like larger than life guy, but just Yeah. It's gonna be busy. You know, I I learned very early on that you don't sneak up on Tom. 'Cause 'cause he reacts. Yeah. You know, if we have to go see him in a funeral home, I'm still gonna walk very very carefully up to the casket just in case he reacts. You never know. 'Cause his hand would you just knew it was coming. Yeah. But It's funny. Yeah. fun guy. Yeah. But I I read an article and then I saw a post from Fred Minnick that he nominated the 2025 George T. Stag as the bourbon of the year. Well look what we got. So I figured it was time to open it. So I did pre open it to give it some some air since that is hazmat. That is one forty two, I think it was. Yeah. So I figured we would warm up with the twenty twenty three George T stag. Was it one thirty five and change? Yes. And we've already, you know, this this has been open for a little bit. Yeah. one forty two eight is this year's. We're talking about this. I I think Frank Minnick w nominates or Fred Minnick does George C. Stag every year, right? Like it's this is not the first time he's picked it as Bourbon of the Year. Right. If I'm right. Smells great. yeah. Yeah. It's crazy. Okay. Mm. Right, but it's still it's still you can tell on the nose that it's got some yeah some oomph behind it. Yeah. Yeah. I get a lot of caramel on it too. Sweet caramel. Almost like that dark fruit, cherry. Hm. For a first poor, that's I don't think a pecan or a Yeah, I think so too. There's something nutty there. Yeah. Yeah. I mean to go straight to one thirty five for me, I don't think it's overwhelming. I will say that about it. So my first stag that George T stag that I had was I believe it was twenty sixteen. And I I I remember it as a little sweeter, but like a deep sweeter. No. This is more of like a fruit sweetness. I can ex I yeah. I'm okay with that. But it was more of a caramel sweet. Yeah. Yeah, I'll tell you what. I I've said this, I don't think stag is historically my favorite. I think that we've got the WLW and I think that's actually really close in proof to what this one is. Right. And I I mean they're both cr i this good poor, I'm not gonna sometimes I always think stag's hot just to be hot. So and I think I like coming back to things 'cause then it's like, you know, my palate's adjusted, I've learned some things. Yeah. I think some of the heat on this is the pepper. Like it's got a little bit of that pepper. But it it's kinda buried in w with all that s fruit sweetness. But I think that's where I get Yeah. Some of the some of the heat. No, after at first I didn't think the legs were all that great on it. Now it's it's darn good at this point. Yeah. Yeah, I don't hate it. I mean I I think we I've I've had this before. It's not historically my favorite, but I mean first pour is not not too shabby. No. No, I'd say that. And again, even with the heat, I'm not blown away by it either. Yeah. Like blown out by it. Like it's yeah. And it's a nice finish. Oaky, yeah. Yeah. I would say that it's not the longest finish we've had. Like I it's n the mouthfeel is not as chewy as some of the ones I we've had. I don't know if this is is this cold filtered? I can't remember. Uncut and unfiltered? Hm. Man, nose is really nice on it. I'd actually even say it was mild con considered. I'm gonna save a little bit of that 'cause I wanna be able to come back to it. Okay. So what else happened? I'm trying to think. I had people out doing internet today. I'm trying to think. Like I said, my work's been crazy, which is good, but still it's just been long days. Yeah. It's the way goes. I found a car. that's right. I didn't even stop to see it. Happy? Look nice. yeah. Yeah. Fun to drive. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. So and there's a story. So I had a 2003 Mercedes SL five hundred for a couple years and I loved that car. Yeah. It just it fit me. And I was my my hip was bothering me at the time and I was looking for something where I could drive and straighten my leg. Yeah. And I don't know if you've ever sat in one, but there is like long. Yeah. So much room. So when I found that, I I really enjoyed driving it. Ended up selling it. have missed it. Yeah. So I was looking for an SL fifty five AMG and found one in Cleveland. It was a basket case. Yeah. But he was like, it'll be fine. And he was asking like nine thousand dollars for that price. Yeah. Well I'm thinking I y I do all the work myself. Yeah. I'll go up and take a look. Yeah. Cause it was still under what a normal yeah one would be. And I go up and it's and it's like it was one of those cars that it looks like it had been broken into. the whole under dash was ripped off. The front bumper was ripped off. I started it and it did start. ran rough. And then once it got up to temperature, just all this oil smoke coming off the front. So it was a hot mess. Yes. Hot mess. No, I don't want it. Yeah. And Steph said, Well, what do you really want? Yeah. I said, Well, my dream car would be to find an SL sixty five. Yeah. But I figured if I got that One I could work on, I can build up to it, sell that one and then make a little bit of money actually. And yeah. Well, we found an SL sixty five. Yeah. And they're not very common, are they? No, there there was only like eight for sale nationally. Yeah. Because there were only three thousand of them built. Yeah. And the SL sixty five is the V twelve, six hundred and four horsepower, seven hundred and thirty-eight foot pound of torque. Yeah. Just convertible. Yeah. Hard top convertible. Yeah. It's like a transformer. And the lowest price one you're gonna find like listed anywhere is like forty some thousand dollars. So this place in Cleveland had one listed for thirty four. Jeez. And then they marked it down to twenty nine. Just not moving. And I went up and made an offer. Well, I went up and looked at it, I'm like, all right, what's wrong with this Yeah. And they gave me the VIN, I did the whole car fast. Great service history, which is important on that car. That's a lot of cylinders to be messed with. Yes, and it has to and with the hydraulic A B C body control system. sensatronic brake control system. I they all need plenty can go wrong. Yeah. Well and the only thing that prevents it is good service. Yeah. But it had great service, great records. Go up and look at it, it's in great shape. Steph and I took her for a ride. It's the one. It's the one. Do you agree? Yeah. It's got eighty thousand miles on it. Yeah, well. But ironically it's the least amount of mileage on any of my cars. But I I I work on and you know, that that's part of my fun. Yeah. I say the same thing about my yard. It gets me out of the house. It's the thing that yeah. I enjoy that. a little different. I think it's pretty darn same. It's got a bit more and again this is I know it's not been open long. I think it's got it's much more astringent-y. So right now I don't get as much of the nut. I don't get as much of the caramel either. I was gonna say a little more caramel, but not as much of the stone fruit, you know, that you know. So twenty twenty five one hundred one hundred and forty two point eight proof. Cut non filtered. Well, they say these are how old are these? They don't say on these ones. I think that's the I think it's usually assumed that they're ten ish years, I think. Eight to ten. I get a little grape on this. Yeah. That's what I was. It's almost like Kool-Aid grape. Yeah. Yeah. And I like that. Grape Kool-Aid's one of my two favorites. Yeah. But you get that a lot on the weeders. Yeah. So yeah, great. Yeah, it's very great. This one's much more oaky I won. Smell that again. I I feel like the last time I almost got a little cigar on it even. Yeah. Hmm. Like more nutmeg or nut. Something, yeah. Yeah. Yeah, and this one's definitely grapier. You can't inhale when you Yeah, don't inhale it. It's hot. That one's it's gotta sit. Yeah. Cause that's that one's much, much hotter than this one. This one's almost mellow compared to this. Yeah. So when you get can get to it, I really like the flavor of that. Which the twenty five. Yeah. I like 'cause it has those grape overtones. Yeah. I like that. Yeah. Not near Azoky at all. I'll agree with that. And it's a this one's much sweeter as well, like the marshmallowy chic carmic. So weird. I don't know if I've ever noticed anything that grapey before. Like So I think that Augusta single barrel was the most grapey thing I've had. Really? Yeah. It's gotta be the way. It's gotta be. I've got it around here somewhere. But yeah, that's the most grapey one I've had. Bam. Hm. This one lasts longer, I will say that. It's just hold the flavor holds much, much longer. Yeah. I wonder how those guys are doing. When they do those tastes, I mean do they just leave open for a couple of days before I mean, they usually taste them in big enough samples that they've got I don't know. I'm actually surprised we've hadn't gotten to this one before. 'Cause it you've had it for a while. Not the twenty five. I thought you did. No, no, not for a while. Okay. Maybe a week or two ago. Okay. maybe a little longer. Mm. Yeah. Coming back to the from the to that twenty three, this one definitely still has a really good flavor to it. Yeah. Holy cow. So we went up last Monday in the morning. We had to go up for a Steph Ed Docker's visit. Went looked at that car. Conveniently, you know, we were up in the Cleveland area and hey, it's just Cleveland. Yeah. Yeah. Went over, looked at it, and then I called him mid offer. Yeah. Back and forth a little bit. Yeah. And then Friday went up. I just happened to be upstairs when you guys came by too. I was sitting in the office talking to Lisa and I would go like, wait a minute. Well, we were gonna drive up and then Steph's like, But I wanna ride back with you and I'm like, Well, I wonder if Ben did Ben okay. So Ben drove with us and then drove our car back. Yeah. And I brought that back. Did you let him drive it yet? No, we haven't had a chance yet. It's just and that was just yesterday, you know? Yeah. So that's funny. Yeah. Yeah, he'll he I was he excited for that? I'm sure he liked that one. Yeah. Yeah. But so it's home. I see you're making space for one. Yeah. Yeah. Put a nineteen sixty nine Mercedes two fifty. I already got a phone call on it. Did you? Yeah, I haven't listed it anywhere online or anything. you've just wow. Well that's good. And then one of our I yeah, I can see why the neighbors won't like this. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. But I mean it's a great old car. Yeah. It's a cruiser. It rides so nice. Yeah. I I mean it needs a muffler. That is what it is. Yeah. But what a great car. It it'll we actually tossed around just keeping it for a while. Yeah. that'd be great first car. Right? It just it doesn't accelerate fast. So what? But once it gets there it's just cruising. Yeah, I'm fan. Yeah. Yeah. I'm a fan. It's it's growing on me. Yeah, I think just as it sits a little bit, it's open enough. But you gotta go slow with it. Sneak up on you. Yeah. Mm. Well that's exciting for you though. Yeah. It's always nice to add something like that. No matter what. New, old, new to me is it's always new to me. That's the half the fun. Mm hmm. Twenty one years old, but it still it just looks Yeah. They they still look new. Yeah. The flavor stays even after having a drink of water. Yeah, I'm sure. Yeah. That's pretty good. Yeah. Strong. The grape stays. Yeah. She got a little bit of bite on her too. Yeah. All right. Yeah. Yeah. I I can see it. I can see it. Yeah. What was he going he he was doing twenty twenty five? Twenty twenty five. Yeah. So. No, I would say that I think for something of this proof you have to have a palette for the you want that. No, I'm sure he tastes tests enough that I can see that. Yeah. But I feel like we had so many good bourbons in the past year. Listen, there's yes. This is the easiest answer. Yes. There's a ton of stuff that's just been floating around. And and in the last year, like we talked about some of this new stuff. Four grain, like some of this stuff that's new, new. I mean, cured oaks floating around out there. I've seen a couple of those. Yeah. Yeah. Now that's a twenty twenty six release. I didn't get to have a twenty twenty five. Yeah. still I think that there's a lot of good stuff already this year. Just Yeah. That Russell's reserve thirteen. Yep. That was I'm still waiting for mine to come in. That's good. The Heaven Hill ninetieth? Did you like it? I did like it. Listen, those are all good bottles. That nineteen's a good great bottle. That one hasn't been up. Yeah. That Willow was really good. Yeah. You like the Caleb Cross, though, that's your that was shortless too, right? Yeah. That Commander's Club? That was really good. And I know we're sneaky, right? Yeah. I mean it it's really hard to to say what the favorite was. I think there's a couple that Elijah Craig fifteen. Listen, those are ha all heavy hitters. I I'm just looking behind that Yellowstone that we had. That single barrel Yellowstone was good. Yes. I mean, and what was that? Six sixty dollar, seventy dollar bottle? Yeah. Like There's a lot of stuff out there that's just good at this point. Yeah. I didn't get a chance to open my two fiftieth. My second Yellowstone two fiftieth. Mine's not open. And I had it out on fourth of July and nobody decided to hit it. Nobody opened it? Yeah. wow. Yeah. we haven't opened our our new the President's Choice yet. Yep. I had more I the I had one last Friday. I had friend of mine got one and then we opened that one. It was pretty darn good. It was almost and I think that there was that release they had, there was several different barrels that went out. I think it was like five or six even barrels that they had. And his was I it was almost peanut y caramely it was different, but it was still really, really good. And didn't drink all that hot either. That was the one of the things I was surprised by is it was a nice easy pour. So the last one we did that 1792. Yeah. Wow. You guys were a mess after that. How many did how many how much did you guys drink the entire podcast or were you guys stop and keep going? we drank the entire podcast. That was that was that it was a long it was about an hour. Yeah. You know. actually it was like an hour and twenty minutes, but with editing and taking out the the big breaks, it's just under an hour. That's like this. But so we did seven seventeen ninety twos. Busy. Yeah. But what we didn't do was the cognac one. yeah, I don't have that one. We didn't we didn't have that. But now I do. you did. Mike realized he had two of them. well there you go. So he brought me one. Nice. So now I have a cognac one to do. still haven't opened all my three Tom's Foolery. Yep. Have you opened any of them? There's one. Or the red one is the red one open? No, none of those are open. Those were finds. Those were all special picks, right? Yeah. Those those were all special. Yeah. Who were those okay? From Cleveland Barrel Hunter. Yeah. Very cool. yeah. I mean even that old granddad. hundred and fourteen proof seven year. That single barrel. That was fantastic. That's been what? Three weeks since we did that? Yeah. Yeah. So I I I mean there I think there's a lot of really good things. And now everybody's doing the the special releases. Yeah. so it's gonna an interesting thing. I think it's one of those things where those are We've moved ourselves from mainstream bourbon, from the Jack Sevens, the Beams, the to everything. There's a lot of these special releases that are all really, really good. Yeah. They've decided instead of batching it all, they're going through and cherry picking at this point and finding a way to and listen, I don't blame them. If I'm gonna sell 21 dollar bottles or I'm gonna sell sixty one dollar bottles. It's a real easy question if I'm the distiller. Right. Especially when you have a lot more of the sitting on it. Yep. Bourbon sitting around. Pick it. Yeah. Yep. I agree. Because they're no they're gonna mix that other stuff into big enough batches, it's gonna taste the same no matter what. Steal some of that stuff out of there and make something special out of some of them. Yeah. I really like the nose and the glass and that. Yeah. They're both really nice. I I still think that the they're both. Tay what after going back to this twenty three. I don't know. I think I like the twenty five better now. I think so. At least on the nose. Well Go figure. I didn't think that was gonna be the case, to be honest. Yep. So I'm glad I pleasantly surprised. Yeah. Yeah. Glad I did that. Yeah. Well thank you. Yeah, thank you. Is there anything else you haven't tried yet? There's a lot of stuff up here I haven't tried. Now that I don't know if I have to try right now. That is a nice Did you did you do the No. Over the mirror that night? We can do a little bit. Yeah, pour me a little bit of that guy. I was actually really pleasantly surprised by this. This is that you know, I to me I think Heaven Hill is hit or miss. Yep. because it's more of that peppery Yep. I th high rise. But I also think that when they're doing their special when they're doing picks like this, they get it really right. And I listen, they're asking for a good slow down. They're asking for a premium price on all of these, they know they've gotta hit They can't screw these up. Right. So this is a different I feel like they've been on a good run right now too. Let's say that. Like a lot of these special releases are hit really, really well for them. Yeah. So this nineth anniversary is Seventy percent seventy eight percent corn, ten percent rye, twelve percent malted barley. And then seventy percent of the bottle of is Kentucky Strait bourbon whiskey, nine year old. Thirty percent is Kentucky Strait bourbon whiskey aged in heavy char barrels. Nine year old. So still blend. Still blend still blend. Yeah. I feel like that's that's Listen, they've got the they've gotten this down to a science. They've Yeah. Yeah. You small the char on it. It's not bad, but it's good. Right. Yeah. Now this is a hundred and seven proof. Which is always seems to be the sweet spot, right? Yeah. I just think that it's the number everybody shoots at now, yes. It's nice. I got more wood than char this time. Yeah. There's something sweet I catch on the sides of my tongue too. I don't know what that is. Yeah. Orangy maybe? Right. Good. I think it's got the classic Heaven Hill flavor to it. Yeah. No, the first time I had it it was a fresh crack too. Yeah. So now it opened for a couple of weeks. I like it. I do. And I don't know if that's just 'cause we're coming down off of hundred and forty two. Right, but it's not the same sweetness. Like it's not a cherry or grape. No, grape grape. Yeah. It's like the opposite. Yeah, it's much Yeah. The rye it's much more rye forward. It's yeah. I like it. That's a nice pour. That is a good pour. Easy. Is that label crooked? Or is it supposed to be that way? See the blue ring around it? Yeah, no, it's crooked. Guess you'll have that. Somebody was taking too many nips as they were putting labels on the bottles. One for you, one for me. Yeah, that's nice. Are these down here the entire time? This one tastes chilled almost compared to those other two. Maybe it's the proof. Maybe it's just because the proof is that they are hot and they just Yeah. like the almost like the temperature is lower on this one. Not that it was Yeah, well that's only less air is blowing different foot over. That's funny though. I like it. Good one, Heaven Hill. Yeah. So I'm curious about the nineteen. We'll have to do the an episode on that one. Yeah, I think I mean I've got a couple over there too. I think we can do a Heaven Hill group. So aging location. Do you need the grain to glasses too? I do. I do. Over here. they're over there. Okay. I had a couple of those too. I haven't opened the bottled and bond one. I have a bourbon. Yeah. And then I have the Heaven Hill grained glass. chickwapin. check a p cho chekapin. Whatever those are. I don't know that I was a fan of that. Yeah. Yeah. I mean it wasn't bad, but it's just not something that I like. Yeah. So it did not make the table of shame. No. Yeah. So it wasn't bad. It just wasn't. Listen, I think it's easy to be not in your f f flavor profile, but Yeah. So what is new to the table of shame is that rare character limited release batch number five. Okay. Which is a hazmat. Yeah. So it's a American light whiskey. Now, maybe I need to revisit it. Yeah. But it was I think maybe we just need to go back to some of those anyways. Except for the castle and key. That thing was Yeah, that's I think that's a bad one. I think the castle and key should just Yeah. It should leave the table of shame. It would be like when you lose a cold fish. If anything you need to drop, it's that one. Right. I think it's time to go swim with the coldfish. Bury it in the backyard. Use it to clean some motor parts. That's a really nice board. It's not as good as stags, but good. Right. And again I'm not I openly say I'm not necessarily a stag fan, but those stags are better. Yeah. No, I think those were good. I I think those were Yep. Both good books. Yeah. Yeah. Well thank you. Hi, thank you. Yeah. It's good good to catch up actually. Right. Feel like we text, but I haven't seen you for a while. Yeah, it has been busy. Busy. Summer. I'm on vacation next week too. I'm out. Ooh. So we gotta this week I'm here, so Okay. Yeah, we leave so I have to fly on Tuesday. Yeah. And then Wednesday morning we're heading down south. To Doing a tour at Old Commonwealth. Okay. And then Thursday is the well our foolproof pick. that's right. That's what Jason too? Yep. Yeah. And then Friday morning, we're gonna get up early and head north because we're going to the Dave Matthews concert in Pittsburgh. jeez. You're just going straight there. That's what we were talking about today. Yeah. So All right. So we were at your house for the celebration last week. That was your brother and sister in law that are the day fans? I think my mom told me about this. Yeah, we didn't we didn't know they were It's funny. I think her more than him, but yeah. Well, I mean if you enjoy it, you enjoy it. Yep. But so are they going to Pittsburgh, Davidstown? I can find out. Yeah, we need to find out. 'Cause we didn't know anybody else going, it's like, well, we're not gonna go early and hit the parking lot when they open. You know what I mean? Like Yeah. Yeah, you don't want to be there that soon. Unless you know somebody and then it's you get somebody to hang out with. Unw the other side of this though is that if you have the time to come back, come back take a shower in your own house. Like there's something to be said for that. Right. absolutely. Absolutely. But then that means you have to get up early. Yep. And don't know what those night that night before is gonna look like. Right. Right. I mean we'll see. We'll see. We're we're either way it's exciting. I mean this is this is the only Dave concert well, I take it back, we're going to Bourbon and Beyond. Yeah. In September and Dave's plan that's there. I'm actually really excited about that one. Yeah, be cool. The rule Yeah, I'm looking forward to Pittsburgh. Yeah. He always does a nice show there. Yeah. And it's a nice place to see a a concert for that matter. Yeah. And we've got premium parking this year. that's listen, it makes all of the difference in the world. I don't know where pre I going for I going to Browns games with premium parking. There is no better situation than that. Right across from stadium, literally you you get priority. You're not sitting on a line. It literally just goes. It's so worth it. Right. Yeah, that'll be that'll be true. getting out of there. Yeah, that's always the yeah. And that'll be a long day. So that'll be glad to be yeah, not after Yeah. Yep. Well, all right. Thanks everybody. Thank you. I hope to see you at the day Matthews in Pittsburgh. He won't remember you, but he'll be happy to see you. Yeah. And stay tuned. We'll have hopefully another They are going. nice. So let know where Steph and I are going. You should give her Steph's number. Mm-hmm. Last year, the last time that he played Pittsburgh, we actually met one of my coworkers who's a flight attendant and her husband is a captain and they they both go too. So I don't know if they're gonna go this year. But Very cool. Yeah. Yeah. So please like, share, subscribe, let us know what you think. I mean I Okay, I can see it. I can see they're both good. They're both really good. Twenty five grew on me the more I had. Yeah. Yeah. You know, it's a good bourbon. I don't know that I'd say it's my favorite. No, yeah. Well, I mean, we got plenty of good stuff to choose from. Like that's the hard part is But I I feel like you know, the stuff that I've had recently. Well, is that that's twenty twenty six. Twenty twenty six is actually gonna be a hard one. Banger year. Yes. Banger year. I Yep. Just so much good stuff has come out. Yep. I'll agree. And one month. Start to get into allocation season. One month. I know. Well no, it's less than that. no, it is. You're right. One day less than one month. Yeah. Sh it's thirty day months, not 31 day month. Yeah. Yeah. Big day. Big day. Days. Yeah. So hey. Thanks for watching. Everybody have a great day. Have a great night. We'll see ya. See ya.