How many whiskeys are we doing today? Why am I grumpy? We're tasting whisky. Can't tell you. I mean, it's your essential nature. 12 whiskeys. 12? Only 12? I put out a few. Okay, that's probably wise. You know what they say, you can take the grump out of the chair, but you can't take the grumpy out of the sitter. You can't take the grumpy chair out of the... Yeah, it's an inside joke between me and all my friends. All right, Dan, you put this together, this list? Yes. And Jim is shuffling them so that even you don't know what the order is? Correct. All right. I don't even remember all the whiskeys I brought. I would like to say once again for those listening at home that blind tasting is terrifying and especially when we bad mouth our own private label products. So, let's hope that doesn't happen. Yep, let's hope that doesn't happen. All right, let's not do that. Okay. Is our Clark and Sheffield in here? Hopefully. Wouldn't you like to know? All again, I'm playing coy. You know I'm a company man. Yeah, it's in here. Okay. That's which it should be because it's excellent. All right. Well. Ding. So, I mean, working at Binny's is like working for a company that has a company store, right? Because all of my money goes right back. Yeah, I've had that thought a lot too. We might as well be living in Pullman. Why don't we buy the whole Pullman district? Yeah. I'm surprised there isn't a negotiated rate where I could get payment in gift cards. I love that. Don't say that too loud. Hey, you're listening to Barrel to Bottle, The Binny's Podcast. We are back in your feed, and we're gonna do a blind tasting, which is scary, but also it's whiskey, so I'm a little excited. I'm Greg, I do communications at Binny's. I'm Dan, I do spirits at Binny's. I'm Roger, beer. Lexi on socials. Hi, I'm Chris, I do wine stuff. And you know what, off mic? Hello. Jim's over there. The Dungeon Master. Okay, he is, he's hiding behind his boxes, like a Dungeon Master. Are you deciding which bottle to pour with a multi-sided die? Yeah, D12. I'm sure I have a multi-sided die. You could have some potential buys at this, Greg, little budget basement boogaloo. I'm 100% in. Budget basement boogaloo. My last purchase, my last 18 purchases of whiskey have all been Clark & Sheffield by the handle. And then last time I bought a bottle of Evan Williams instead. Which Evan Williams bonded? Black label. I bought a handle of Evan Williams for $18.99 minus an employee discount, Roger. So, what I specifically requested with this as a long time advocate for budget bourbons was that we lean towards bonded or 100 proof whenever possible. I think that's the deal breaker with the less expensive whiskeys. When they water them down to 80 proof, they can taste pretty weak and washed out. But the stuff at 100 proof when you blind it, I think you fool a lot of people. I'm out. Did we do this recently? I mean, like within the last four years. We did something with just bonded or was supposed to be bonded. Yes, we did do it. Melodic corn was in there. We did a Bottle and Bond episode. Bottle and Bond episode. But this is Bourbons Blind. So, actually, what I did is I chose whiskeys under $30. They should be available at all Binny's. If not all, then they should be orderable if they're not there. So, under $30, mostly under $25, I would say, with a few exceptions, and then aimed for high proof when I could, but there's a mixture of proofs as well. But not necessarily Bourbon. It's all American whisky. It's all whisky from America. But not necessarily all Bourbon. Okay. So, those are the rules. So, we have a sample in our glasses, in our little cups here, and we dive right in. We should say also we don't know what we're tasting. We're going to describe them. And then, Greg from the future, who from the future, Greg? From the future is going to cut in and tell you what we are tasting, but we don't know. So, take it away, Greg. Number one, old granddad, 100 proof. Smells familiar. Smells like bourbon. Got some stewed pears there. Is this how this whole thing's going to go? This smells delicious. I just want to point that out, just right off the bat. Or maybe it's the first sniff of whisky for the day. That's probably what it is. That's a big part of it. Cherry Ludens and Caramel all over. Totally down with the Cherry Ludens. I agree with that completely. This is good. Who's really getting up in on the smacking over there? Is that you, Greg? Take it easy. Yeah, this is good. Yeah, it's funny the power of suggestion. Now that you said Cherry Ludens, I can't get that out of my head. Sorry, bro. Same here. It's on the palate too. It's all over the palate. So that makes it Buffalo Trace, right? He's the one blinding us. Is Buffalo Trace in this mix? Daniel, tell us. I pick up a fruity note with Buffalo Trace. I usually equate it more with strawberry, like strawberry candy, licorice. That's true. Ludens is even though it's cherry, I mean, there's some overlap. This is good. It's got a little heat to it, so I would think this is a little higher proof. It's full on the palate. It's nice. I would agree with that. It's definitely not 80 proof. I don't think so. I'm not going to rank them or anything, but I give this one a thumbs up. Yeah, thumbs up for sure. Why don't we say how you would drink it? This I would drink neat or with like an ice cube. Not out of the bottle or with a crazy straw. I would use a crazy straw for this. On the rocks, neat in a drink, Manhattan. Although I've been doing more of the Boulevardier lately. Yeah. We're going to go through this and every single whisky, Greg's just going to go Manhattan. Yeah. Spoiler alert. This might be a touch sweet for Manhattan for my taste, but hey, it's your Bottle, do what you want. I think it sounds like a fine shot rock and roll. I would just put this on one big rock. I think it's good enough to drink that way. I agree. You'd Alcatraz it. The rock. The rock. You're the man now, dog. You're the man now, dog. That was Finding Forester, not the rock. What? Just splitting hairs. The same guy. Once again, Greg from the future. Number 2, Jim Beam Black Seven Year. A little more limestone, stoniness on this one, and vegetal like green aloe, something like that, on top of what is normally just bourbon smell. Touch of anise for me. Oh, yeah? And bubble gum. Much drier. Yeah. Very. Not as sweet for sure. It is very limestoney. I agree with that. Yeah. You're the wild turkey guy. Yeah. It's a little leaner than wild turkey. But we're doing blind, so I could be. You think it's rye heavy? I think there's some spice to it. There's definitely spice on the finish, and those vegetal notes in the nose. Yeah. I could see this being a rye, not a bourbon. Yeah. Sure could be. Yeah. Either high rye bourbon or rye. Oh, but a mellow rye. The Kentucky style of rye. Yeah, I guess. Or a tradition, like not a Menongaheele. What's the like? Not a Pennsylvania style. That's what I mean. Would you call me? But, you know, like a normal, it could be a normal rye, not necessarily just like a written house or the really high corn ones. Yeah. Lexi, where did Med Price? No. I can't remember. Do you like rye? I don't like whiskey. Oh, really? So this is going to be an experience. Well, buckle up. There's a few that I can, you know, I can tell you I like this versus this. There's a few. I mean, the profile here is definitely like Dan said, dry and a little austere and very minerally. Well, I give it a thumbs up and let's do cocktails because Manhattan. Yeah. I agree with this assessment this time, Manhattan. Yeah, Manhattan. I think old fashioned, you know, keep it classic. You know, that last one with the sweetness and the roundness, that would be a good old fashioned because it's a multiplier against the sugar makes it so easy. I always find you got to be careful with that though because if you start with a sweet whiskey and then you have your sugar cube. You and me will split a bottle of clap back wine and we'll have this conversation again. Indeed. I think it'd make a good gold rush. Yeah. Yeah. Good call. I want to do a highball with this. Yeah. So it's Philbert's. I think that's a great idea. What's the lime one called again? The lime Philbert's. You got the guy in the tuxedo. Oh, God. I have no idea either. I own branded glasses. I know. That's why I brought it up. I thought I was setting you up here. This is like a Western Suburbs soda. What are we talking about? Southside. Southside. So you know Philbert's root beer, right? No. I only know the ginger beer. We sell it. You never heard Philbert talking about it. We should have a root beer episode. That's rad. That's a great idea. Yeah, we should. Just put Jaeger in all of them. So it was a brewery and then during Prohibition, they started making soda and then after Prohibition, they didn't start the brewery back up. They've just been soda ever since. That's like the people at Pringles when the potato truck showed up instead of tennis balls. Mitch Hedberg, RIP. Hey, it's a South Side classic. Well, you can still walk into their place from the loading dock and just buy cash, cases of soda. That sounds legit. It sounds like if it ain't broke, don't fix it. They're in all sorts of bars and bodega type places. It's a great brand. I can't think of the name of that soda. Yeah, we still didn't figure out what the lime one is called. Hi Hat, Top Hat, Uptown. Funk gonna give it to you. Roger? I don't have one now. What are we doing here? Musical shots. Yeah, yeah, teamwork everybody. Number three, Old Forrester 100 Proof. Whoa. Corn? Corn. Corn. Or dessert-like. Corn pudding? Corn pudding. Yeah, much sweeter now. Right? Tastes like an overproof to me. I think you're right. It also tastes young. It's a little young. Little young. Little young. Little lean. Little lean. Hmm. The finish is all right. The mid-palates are a touch lean. But I find a real disconnect between the nose and the palate. Yeah. It kind of smells sweet and it drinks dry. Well, but there's a glob of sweetness up front, and then it's gone. It's kind of disjointed. It's super spicy, too. And there's alcohol heat. I think Jim just blinked twice if it's Clark & Sheffield. I mean, considering that we're obviously doing a blind, this could be a $17 bottle of whiskey, which for that, I mean, it delivers. I mean, it's not bad. Yeah. It tastes like a young classic bourbon to me, like something you'd want to mix with. Straight bourbon, right? Two years, maybe. I mean, for the listeners, they're unaware, like a lot of these classic brands that you've seen over the years, Jim Beam White Label, Black, Evan Williams Black, they're still four-year-old bourbons. It's kind of amazing considering what they're so cheap for. Yeah. Then there's like 24-month micro distillery bourbons that are like $80. I know. What are you doing? Well, we're proud of them too. You've got time and money on your side when you're a big company because- Cut that out. They're going to put your face on a handpick bottle. Oh, geez. This is an obvious statement, but it takes time to build stocks. It's easy for big companies to age four years without an economic sacrifice at this point. They've been doing it forever. Right. So this whiskey, I'm like 75 percent on. It's not that bad. I could totally mix a cocktail with this and it would be fine. I feel like there's a lot of flavors in here that makes sense why people love bourbon and Coke so much. Like, there's some synergistic, like the cherry note. There's almost a little bit of like a liquorish. I got a touch of like orange peel on the back. You know, actually, this and root beer would be good. And it's not just because they have root beer on the brain. That's a good... Or Dr. Pepper. That's another underappreciated mixer for bourbon. Speaking of Dr. Pepper, you know what I saw today? Mr. Pibb? No. I saw a Dr. Pepper, a new Dr. Pepper-flavored item at the gas station. You want to take a guess as to what it was? Hostess Muffins. Peeps. Nope, not Peeps. I saw Peeps in Walgreens. Well, that might exist. I don't know. It does, for sure. Actually, it's Peeps Pepsi. And I tried it in the office as it was two years old, and it wasn't that bad. Peepsie. Yeah, I think we had that on the show two years ago. But that was the liquid. There are Peeps flavored like Dr. Pepper. Oh, the other way. Yeah. And they're like maroon, like the color of the can. Slim Jim? Oh, boy. There you go. It was a Jack Link's brand new. Dr. Pepper flavored. I bought one and I took a bite, and the rest is in my car still. Oh, I thought you were going to say the rest is in Brett. Number four, Evan Williams, 100 proof. This is fine. We're moving along at a clip. We still have to go through them all again a second time, so that's why these are always like an hour and a half long. This also smells stony and a little bit pretty Cavalier over here with these cups. Reeds or something. Not quite the end, not quite the middle. It's much softer. Caramel-y something, somewhere in there. This is definitely lower proof, but it's round and friendly and there's plenty of flavor. Caramel, like you said, is spot on, little bit of spice. Yeah, there's some vanilla here. This is starting to get into the flavors that a lot of, we often have joked that people get hung up on age statements and always imply that they like younger bourbon, but then when you ask them to describe the kind of flavors they look for in You mean- Caramel, vanilla. They say that they want the 20-year-old, but what they really want is the bottled and bottled. Five to seven-year-old bourbon is what they want. They want all these things that disappear, the more the oak comes in and replaces the sweeter, more dessert-like character with dry, spicy, oaky, tannic flavors. Which isn't what this is. No. This one's... I would say that it's another one with a big burst of sweetness up front, and then it kind of fades out to this kind of nondescript kind of dry finish. It also isn't bad, but on the nose and the burst of caramel up front, I'm expecting it to be Jack Daniel's or something. I didn't get much on the beginning. I like this. I think this is well balanced. This is great. It's like brown sugar right here on the front of the palette. Oh, Roger, I bought a Pinsonillo. Oh, yeah? My wife's like, what do you do with that? I'm like, I don't know. But it was a dollar and a half. Why did you buy it? Because I saw it. You should have made your margaritas out of it. You should walk up and be like, honey, where are the sugar tongs? She's like, how do you use that? I'm like, I don't know. You break some off? I don't know. Scissors. I use scissors. Really? Crunch it up into an old-fashioned one, too. I'm going to drink in old-fashioned tonight and get cavities. I'm going to do it. There you go. Brush your teeth afterwards. Yeah. Make it weird. Anything else to say about number four? It's fine. It's another one that I've got right here, my thumb, directly Northwest. It would be fine in any number of cocktails. That literally all of these would be fine. Manhattan. This I think just with an ice cube and it's just round and friendly and lower proof. I do think like Dan was saying that this one might be a little lower proof. So you might get a little lost and depending on what kind of cocktail you made, in a shorter drink, sure. Long drink might get a little lost. Sure. I like it though. I think it's good. I think it would be good for a lion's tail. You know that cocktail. For our listeners, go on. Bourbon, Allspice Dramm. Get out of here. Sorry, sorry, it's fine, it's fine. That backfired. Oh, that's great. Cue the ham horn. Number five, mellow corn. It smells big. Running out of words to say about inexpensive bourbon here. It's not to say that it's bad, it's just, you know. Honey on this one for me. A little bit of orchard fruit. More delicate, fruitier. It's more mellow on the nose. Not as much caramel. Yeah, orchard fruit. I have a very weird tasting note, which is I'm getting melon on the nose, which I never say about whiskey. This is bird dog watermelon. Oh my God. I snuck it in. It's more like honeydew though. Oh, well. This is fine. I don't know. I would say also not a real high proof one. I get that melon note on the nose too. Is that weird or what? It's like reminding me of how we talk about how cucumber and watermelon to grind. The rindy. Yeah. Yeah. It's like honeydew at the rind. Yeah. Where does that come from? The kind of vegetal fruity note that under ripeness that you're talking about. That's a good question. I'm guessing it's a grain characteristic from a younger whiskey coming through as opposed to a barrel covering it up. This could even be a rye. You think so? Yeah. It'd be a pretty mellow rye. I mean, this is pretty easy to drink. Not all ryes are that. I don't know. Rye gets such a bad rap. I've given up on trying to force it on people because they'll just jack up the prices like bourbon. Well, yeah. But if you got- You can actually afford rye still, unlike bourbon. But if you got 51.49 mash bill, you know. It's like two off of a bourbon. Yeah. They can be pretty- I mean, Rittenhouse is the very easy drinking rye. I would point out that Iowa's own Templeton rye is so bright and sweet. Yeah. Well, they got a little trouble for that. I know. That's because they flavor blasted it. They're like, I'm going to soften this up for you folks. Anyway. I don't think it's soft. I think it's a little intense for my palate, personally. This is also the fifth sample of whisky out of 12. It's only going to go up from here. The most whisky I've had in ages. When you say it's not soft, what is it to you? I mean, is it spicy or hot or? Hot. It's a little hot. All right. This is going to sound weird. But I was instructed at the behest of a farmer once, who was really proud of the sweet corn that he was selling to just eat it raw. He was like, this is so good that you don't even have to cook it. It's really the best way to eat corn. So I, all right, I'll do it. He was right. It was pretty amazing. But that vegetalness and combined with the traditional corn flavor, that's what this reminds me of. So again, I think that's pointing towards farm fresh sweet corn. Yeah, corn heavy, young, probably not rye, probably young bourbon. Yeah, it's got that like a touch of that like a lotte liqueur we have. Yeah, next stuff. Right there. Yeah, we've got it. Oh yeah, there it is. That stuff's crazy sweet. You should dial that back. Well, really good. Half and half with this. Yeah, there you go. Okay, let's try it after this episode is over. Thank you. Passing around. Anyway, raw corn, if you haven't enjoyed raw corn, you should. If you're cooking your fresh sweet corn, be brief about it. Indeed. Number six, old Fitzgerald. Whoa. You guys getting pepper, pirazine, something like that? I got a touch of banana. Acetone. Otherwise, it's quiet. I'm getting banana-y. You're like in the beauty parlor. I got like a touch of banana. It's not in your face, but. Well, banana and acetone overlap quite a bit, in my opinion. Yeah. Yeah. Low levels of acetone as opposed to the nail polish of the screaming eye acetone. They're both part of the sherry barrel spectrum. Not that that's what this is, but okay, trying it. Saltwater taffy. You are not wrong. It's so mellow and low-lying. It is so soft. That one is soft. This has got to be like just 80 proof, right? If they can't make it lower than that. All right. Seriously. Compared to everything we've tasted so far, this is just like. Yeah. Yeah, this is easy. Okay, hot take. You know what this cocktail would be? Two parts this and one part iced tea, and it would be fine. I'd go lemonade. I'd add some lemon. Lemon? Well, I just don't like iced tea and drinks, but so like lemonade, but like not a super sweet one. You are not going to like my hot toddy recipe. I don't like hot alcohol either. Well, that makes sense. Hot buttered rum? I still, I don't know, I can't get behind it. I'm with him on that one. It doesn't make any sense. I just don't like hot alcohol generally. Arguably one of the classic whiskey drinks that people never seem to talk about for some reason is just a whiskey sour. So again, if you can't really wrap your mind around that, like just make whiskey and lemonade. And that's essentially what it is. I love a good whiskey sour. I could see this is like a whiskey sour candidate. Yeah, like a fresh squeezed lemon would really lift this. And just a touch of sugar. Since when does the whiskey need the lift though? Since now. Since right now. Since right this moment. Don't forget your egg white for texture. I was going to make an egg white joke. What do you call a whiskey sour with egg white? A whiskey sour. So you could just drink this because it doesn't take any effort, but I bet it's not very expensive. Yeah, this is probably very inexpensive. I'm going with JW Dant. No, this is not. That's hunter proof though. That's a hunter proof. I'm going with. I'm not saying anything because I know at least which whiskies I brought. Well, the one thing I'd say is there's nothing offensive about it. It's very easy drinking. You can make a cocktail out of that. But not a bunch else to say on that. I'm still firmly Northwest with my thumb on that one. It's not blowing me away, but it's fine. I'm a pass on that one, but it wasn't bad. It's just not, you can do better. Agreed. Number seven, JW. Dant. Maybe it's just compared to the last one, but it's super. What's Roger laughing about? I just keep making a mess, and I'm not swallowing any of this. I'm not drunk. I'm not drunk. It's just clumsy. It was your first mistake. It's crowded in here. I sympathize. There's a lot of things you can bump into. Okay. Number seven. Look at the color. I was going to say, the first thing I noticed, much darker color. This is what I look for in bourbon, just that caramel toffee nose, and it smells a little bit like a dusty Rick house. Yeah. It certainly looks like it's been in oak longer than most. A dusty Rick house. Yeah. What a great corollary to have right after the last one. This is like age. Yeah. Boom. Super young to definitely have some age. For sure. This is good. Some backbone. It's robust. It's full. It's spicy. I think this one would make a good old-fashioned. Make a great old-fashioned. Yeah. Nice pepper notes. Yeah. Treat yourselves listeners to some fancy pepper every once in a while. Go buy the green, the white, the red, the other peppercorns. They're very different. Even high-quality telecherry black pepper will make a difference in your life. I never would have agreed with you until the last pepper that made its way into my household is like the McCormick tin and it's ground to dust. Yeah. And it tastes like nothing. It tastes like nothing. I have to pour it in stuff. Yeah. Well, first of all, your first mistake is you got to fresh grind it. Yeah. Yeah. And then get a good peppercorn. You know, green, white, and black are all the same thing just treated differently. And then when you buy the mixed blends, the less expensive ones, they sneak some other stuff in there. They're like, they'll throw in some coriander and allspice, which isn't bad, but just know. Those bastards. Yeah. They're saving money by putting that in there. By using lesser spices. I had cacio e pepe on Valentine's Day. And they had whole peppercorns in it. So you would go and you would have this like buttery like cheesy goodness. And then you bite in and get this like explosion of peppercorns. I mean, those Romans don't mess around. They like their black pepper. It's a Roman dish? Yeah, it's a Roman dish. It's very good. Yeah. This is back to this bourbon. It's Piper Nigrum, by the way. Oh, never mind. Not back to this bourbon. Sorry. Okay. I always got to say the Latin name of anything. This again is, since I'm such a fan of old timey flavors, like this reminds me of root beer, root beer candy, Sassafras, birch beer. Yep. Root. A lot going on for a budget whiskey. Hell yeah. Maybe the first one was just like the first one, so I stuck on it, but the sweetness of that versus the structure of this, I'm more of the obvious sweet bourbon kind of guy, but respect. It has some sweetness, but it's a much firmer backbone here. Okay, awesome. Number eight is benchmark eight. Seems like we're taking a step back again. A step in a different direction. It's quiet. It is. It's little. It's little Play-Doh-y to me. Play-Doh? That's a funky, mellow kind of flavor. Yeah. I'm with you on that. On the nose, there's Play-Doh and Red Hots. Yeah, specifically like warm cinnamon Red Hots. Yeah. Wait, what? Dan, you guys ever go to the Ferrara Pan factory outlet? You can go in the back door of the candy factory? Another famous Chicago company that Greg looks stunned by. Roger is just all about going to these producers' back doors. Pocket full of cash. Hey. That's cool. Have you ever seen them make- I mean, you ever brought home like three pounds of lemon heads for like $3? Have you ever seen them make those candies, those famous Ferrara Pan harder candies like lemon heads? They're like in these giant tumblers and they just keep adding layer and layers of sugar and different colors. And so it's really fascinating. This whiskey is weird. Yeah. Well, when I said warm Cinnamon Red Hots, when I was a kid, my mom let us make Christmas cookies and we could put Cinnamon Red Hots onto the cookie before they baked it. So when they came out, it was different than just eating one out of the package. Thank you for explaining that. You looked at me like I was a nut job. Yeah, because I didn't understand your olfactory baggage. I have absolutely had the exact same experience, Dan. You're not a weirdo. I mean, I might be. I mean, you are. Not because of this, though. No. This reminds me of hanging out at a dive bar in Wisconsin. This is like. Let's do it. This is well whiskey, nice and cheap. But it's fine. But there's nothing wrong with it. But this should cost you not much. Yeah, I agree. Big Play-Doh nose. Reminds me of my fuzzy pumper barbershop. Is that a euphemism for something? What is that? They are very weird. That thing you push and the hair is growing. Holy mother of God. I had no idea. No. Still don't. Just talking about a Play-Doh toy. Yeah. The gross hair that you can then cut. Oh, yeah. These little people with little holes and then you push it and the hair comes out. There's a barber chair with a crank on it. Fill the person with Play-Doh and crank it and the hair would be like. The toy is fun too. Yes. I think it's a little before my time. I was more of the spaghetti. You know what Play-Doh tastes like, so your eyes need to fill with it. Oh, yeah. Doesn't everyone? Okay. Number nine, Clark & Sheffield, Small Batch Bourbon. There we go. We're switching it up. Not really. Nice color. It's golden. Fruity nose. Lot of fruit. Darker golden, though. And a more mature taste. Like an aftershave smell. I don't know. Do you use aftershave? No. I haven't smelled it in 30 years. Well, if you're talking like old spice with that kind of spicy aroma, I can see that. Thank you. There's a lot of spice in the palette with this. And it's still very friendly. I think probably a little lower proof, I had to guess. Written house, perhaps? I mean, it could be. It's a little rounder than I'd expect from a rye. It's kind of spicy. It's pretty spicy. I like the idea. Like one of the Kentucky style ryes. Yeah. Quite possibly. Yeah. That's pretty good. That is really good. I have no complaints about that. It's not- Especially knowing the price point. It's definitely spicy, but it has roundness underneath. It's just that once the spice be more prominent. Yeah, that's a good cocktail whiskey for sure, especially with vermouth and a Manhattan. Yeah. There it is. Maybe a cherry? Maybe. I kind of quit using cherries. Well, on the fourth or fifth Manhattan, it doesn't make any sense anymore. If I have to go upstairs? Yeah. Not with it. Just bring them with you. If you're buying the good ones, you don't have to refrigerate them. That's true. That's true. And pony up to give and take. You can tie them in the basement and not have to refrigerate them. Right. So something costs twice as much. Something changed in me. Basement cherries. It's partly just becoming a degenerate, but it's when I stopped using the coquille vermouth termino and the cherries at the same time because they both were getting to be too sweet. Really? Yeah, that makes sense. The good cherries are just sugar bombs. Sugar bombs. I mean, they're delicious. Maybe I don't need that at 1130. This to me is a classic American bourbon, like at a nice level of spice, age, it's well-rounded. I think if you blinded people on this and they had no idea whether it was expensive or not, they would just think this is a very well-made nice bourbon. Yeah, it's good. I was going to say, you're thinking high rye bourbon? Either high rye bourbon or Kentucky rye. I think this is the closest to rye that we've tasted so far. If anything before this has been rye, it's a shame on you. This is definitely high proof. I would say this is 100 proof. Maybe that's it because that will intensify the spiciness too. All right. Thumbs up on it. Number 10, Wild Turkey 101. Anybody else think that these tiny little shot glasses don't give it enough nose? Yes. I've been complaining. I mean, I don't have the whole episode. This was one thing, but this is another. There's nothing in here. Ooh. That's fine. We're two from the end. It's fine. I got some really fancy chocolates also around Valentine's Day. It gives you this booklet of how to taste the chocolate properly. Oh. You're supposed to do this little- You're supposed to cup it and smash it. Then you get lotion if you got it. Here's the other trick, you know. Whoa. For those playing it wrong. Yeah. Dan is dousing his hands like lotion, rubbing the whiskey around in his palm. Aren't you supposed to clap your hands too? Smells like soft soap. Mine smells like coke. Why does this whiskey smell like my hand? Mine smells like Chanel No. This whiskey's rough. I mean, this is- There's so little on the nose. I'm not even picking anything up. It's real rubber cement on the nose. It's real husky. Husky. Oh, you're right. Rubber cement. You said that right as it was entering my mouth. That's all I could get. Acetone bomb. Yeah, acetone bomb. It is husky and tannic a little bit. Yeah. A little grippy. There's a stony quality along with the tannin, and there is a spice. There's a burst of spice about halfway through. The finish is nice. This might be a rye. Yeah. The finish is very like... There's like a little bit of mint and spice. Yeah. Agreed. That's nice. I mean... I think that's probably... It's probably like so far away from the bourbons that we've been having that it seems shockingly different. Yeah. But in a different lineup, it would probably not be so shocking. Yowza. Next, please. Yowza. All right. Roger's on a rampage. That could have been the nadir, I don't know. Number 11, Larseny Burbin. Number 11. Number 11. Hopefully, this is the yes, dear. This is nice. Yeah. I like the aroma. The molasses-y note. Oh yeah. That's soft and easy and sweet. It's good body. Yeah. Yeah. It's like night and day compared to the last one. Yeah. Last sweetness on the finish for me. This is, I think, the sweetest thing we've tasted yet. Think so. But it's a brighter, more candied lemon peel kind of sweetness. It may be just coming off the other one. But everybody did, so I don't know. This is, we had some Cracker Jack floating around the office earlier. We did. Cracker Jack, poppycock kind of thing going on. Would that be with almonds or peanuts? Well, we don't need it though. Cracker Jack would be peanuts, but poppycock, you're introducing other nuts. Yeah. I mean, don't mess around with your caramel corn here. Okay. Lexi, are you surviving? Yeah. There's only one more to go after this. Yeah. There's been two, maybe three that I'm like, all right. Yeah. This is great. This is pleasant, man. Yeah. It's really fruity. Like a tall glass of beer in this. Lots of complexity here. Then the bartender doesn't hate you? Yeah. Tall glass of whiskey and a tall glass of beer. PBR in a can. I like when they do hate you a little bit. Really? Sometimes. I want whatever the most complicated drink you make that requires a blender. No, no, no, no, no. More so like I just want to walk in and they're like, what? That's kind of what I want. You're like, oh, just a shot. And they're like, okay. Yeah. All right. You're in the right place. Yeah, feels right. Number 12, Rebel 100. Smells a little crazy. So I'm getting banana again. Strawberry peach ring gummy. Yeah. Peach gummies for sure. Peach gummies. It tastes like that too. Plus caramel. Touch of spice on the tip of the tongue. Little bit of spice. It's sharp. It's a sharp spice. Yeah. I'm guessing Tennessee whiskey on this. Really? I bet you snuck a little George Dickel in there, didn't you? Only time will tell. Jack? Dickel? I'm guessing you wouldn't bother to have Jack in here, but. It seems like there'd be more banana. But the peach is right in that same. There's banana and it's pretty limestoney on the finish. It's fruity and mineral-y. Are you ready for the big reveal? Everybody take good notes so you can say which ones they liked. Jim, can I have a tiny bit more of number one? I liked all of them. I didn't absolutely hate anything. Yeah, I think that's the takeaway here is nothing was terrible. Right. There were a few things that were a couple with that acetone in the nose were a little bit much, but. Yeah, I mean, with these whiskeys, I think that the takeaway is nothing here was terrible. If you have a budget whisky that is close to your heart, try something else once in a while. And then if you are used to just picking up $90 bottles all the time, keep buying those, but once in a while throw one of these in. That's good advice. If you buy $90 bottles of whisky all the time, buy these too. In addition. Yeah. And maybe another $90 bottles. Keep buying the $90 ones. Just for the sake of going back to number one, I don't think it's as beautiful in the nose as I thought earlier, but it's still really good on the palate. It's a nice, easy one of the better ones. Yeah. All right, you ready for the big reveal? All right, here we go. You got commentary on all of these as we reveal? Me? Oh yeah. Oh yeah, sure. No, I mean like- Where they come from and what they are. Yeah, yeah. The succinct salesman. Not notes on what you guys were saying, because I don't have that. No, you don't have to do that. Okay, perfect. Okay, number one. Oh, a granddad, Bond did. Which is crazy, because I said, it tastes familiar. That was the first thing I said, and that was in our well. That was your well at your car? I worked at that. That was the well. Old granddad Bond did 100 proof. Yes, this is the Hi-Ry bourbon from Beam. They make some great whiskeys in general at Beam. This is a highlight cocktail favorite. A lot of bars will use this as their well, as you just said. I need to add this to my repertoire. This is good. That's really good stuff. Good one to have at Christmas time. It is the bourbon featured in Bad Santa. That's a solid buy. Also check out the old Grandad 117. I guess let me get prices going. Oh, yeah. Thank you. Yeah. 117 hugely burned on the shelf. Oh, you have them written down? Okay. How much is the old Grandad 100-bunded? 23.99. 23.99. Worth every penny. That's a good deal. Although, you can still get the one, I said 117 by mistake. The 114 is still available, right? Yeah. It goes out of stock here and there, but it's a good find. Pretty available. Again, drink it on the rocks. I've recommended that over the years for years, and people will be like, yeah, I don't know, man. It's kind of hot. I'm like, did you drink it on the rocks? No, I don't drink bourbon on the rocks. I'm like, it's 114 proof. You should try it on some ice. Also a great old-fashioned whiskey. Number two, Jim Beam Black. This has recently had an age statement added back, but it's a year younger, seven-year age statement. I think it's on sale right now for $23.99. Great price, age-stated, whiskey, friendly proof, I think 86 proof. Yeah, this was always a sleeper in the portfolio. People tend to get a little snobby about Jim Beam products. Don't forget that the people at Jim Beam make- 90 proof, sorry. People make Basil Haydn's, Knob Creek, Booker's, Baker's. This is essentially Baker's but add a little lower proof. Yeah, and a lot of their Beam bottles on the shelf are good. They just get overlooked because the label on they perfectly. Which is silly. Every time I hear Beam, I go back to those little bottles we got, all the different cranes which were so freaking good. Yeah, the brown rice, red wheat. Yeah. Number three, Old Fo, Old Forrester, 100 proof. Yeah, so this is from our friends at Old Forrester, 100 proof signature bottle, 2699? 2799. 2799, great bottle, versatile. I'm digging all the 100 proof ones. Yeah, nice. That makes sense that it had the real fruity character. Yeah, exactly. I think I'm forming an old foe. Number 5? Number 4. Lost count. Yeah, good, great. Number 4, Evan Williams, Bottle to Bond, 100 proof. I like this. There's going to be a lot of Heaven Hill today. They make a lot of whiskey and they make a lot of great whiskies that are a great value. Their baseline, Evan Williams, Black Label is a great bottle for the price. I mean, we put it on sale for under 20 bucks for 1.75 liter. Bottle and Bond is a fantastic option too. This is a step up. Definitely a step up. Yeah. And it's just excellent whiskey. Can I get this in a 1.75? I was going to say I can. Awesome. But I don't know the price off the top of my head. $19.99 for the $7.50. I mean, this is a perfect one to blind your friends with because this is a good bourbon. You know, I do. When my friends drink with me, they do tend to go blind. Oh, my God. $33.99 for the handle? Yep. Captain Jack, what's going on? No, that's a... Is that shipping out to Boston? Yeah, that's not shipping out to Boston. State of Massachusetts. Number five. Number five, Mellow Corn. Yeah, another Heaven Hill product. Oh, look at that. Four-year, 100-proof corn whiskey. Roger nailed it. I have definitely drank many a Mellow Corn bottle over the years. This is a fun whiskey. You're a hipster. Here's my moment where I would get guff for being too cheap. This used to be nothing. I mean, this used to be like $15. They used to pay you $7 to take this out of the store. Now it's like it went up to, what, like $27 or something. It's still not expensive, but I think it's under $25. They used to give it away. I think it's over $20 now. Some of the people on the threads complained about the increase. $21.99. $21.99. Still very cheap. I'm not immediately going to reach for that, but I'm glad I got to experience it yet again. Number six, Old Fitz Gerald. That was that banana. This is the banana one? That's the first one I got a lot of banana on. Interesting. I don't think I can remember the last time I had Old Fitz. It was like a decade ago. Old Fitz Prime is their 80 proof weeded whiskey. I was just going to say, you've had Old Fitz because you drink larceny. Larceny. Yeah. The quote unquote higher end of Old Fitz is larceny. The really high end is the impossible to find bottled and bombed decanters that we get questions about all the time at the Whiskey Outline. But this is on the shelf every day, $13.99. Dang. God damn. That's a deal. I used to buy the 100 proof handles when they were like 30 bucks. Yeah. They were 7 years old. Oh man, was that a good whiskey? That was an old bourbon nerd whale. Oh, the days. Okay. This is turning into Roger LeMence. One does know. Number seven, JW. Dant. This is not the one I liked. JW. Dant. It's one of my house pours. I've never had that before. Moreheaven Hill, Bottle and Bond, of course, so 100 proof, at least four years old. And an easy one to like, we have leaders of it for 2299. This could be the deal of the day. It's a good one. I had a Dusty, my wife's aunt gave me, and it was from the 70s or 80s. And we tried it next to this, and the new bottling is better. Wow. Yeah, 2299 for a liter, so you get a little extra liquid. It's a great bottle of whiskey. I'm going back to drinking Dan. The Farva Special, let me get a liter of Cola and a liter of Dan. I think I'm naming that the value of the day. I buy more of that than any other budget bourbon. We still have five more to go. Well, it's good. And speaking of, number eight is Benchmark 8. This is one of the cheap ones. This is like, yeah, $9.99 on sale. This comes to us from Buffalo Trace. So it's an everyday item from Buffalo Trace. They also have, last year, we were able to finally get the like, I think it's six different expressions such as like top floor, aged or full proof, different proofs of benchmark. Yeah, different proofs, different places in the warehouse, and they're all good too, and they're all very affordable. I think all of them are under 30 bucks. Number nine is Clark & Sheffield, Kentucky Straight Bourbon Whiskey. Binny's is very own, Clark & Sheffield. Good bourbon. No, great stuff on sale most of the time. $11.99 for a fifth. That's the bargain of the day. Remind me, is this the 1792 people? Comes from Barton. The Barton Distillery is owned by Sazerac. Sazerac also owns the Buffalo Trace Distillery, 1792. And there's a lot of different variations of it. But then there's also the very old Barton lineup. Other than that, they're kind of known for a lot of budget stuff. So they've flown under the radar a little bit because of that to make excellent whiskey. If you haven't tried Clark & Sheffield small batch bourbon, you should try Clark & Sheffield small batch bourbon. What fun story. When I started working here, my friend said, we go to Binny's all the time. And now that you work there, let me try it. And they bought it. And they said, I was pleasantly surprised. And they still why it every once in a while. Excellent. Yeah, we don't mess around with putting our name on stuff. If it has our name, the Clark & Sheffield label or any of our private label stuff, it goes through a very rigorous vetting process before it hits the shelf, so. This next one is going to be a Ham's-esque heartbreaker. No, this is number 10. Number 10. Wild Turkey 101. Is that a bad bottle? Oh, man. This is my go-to bourbon at home. Roger, you must be so disappointed. Yeah, that's a heartbreaker. This is why you blind taste, I guess. Do we try it again? Number 10. Wild Turkey 101. It's a very good whiskey, and it's got a really cool bottle. All right. Oh, no. It smells like film processing chemicals. Maybe it's corked. You're good at cork. If it was corked, it would smell corked. Well, you're the wine guy. I want you to tell me. I have had that in a bottle of scotch. It was very upsetting. Yeah. Wah, wah, wah. That's a real surprise for me. That's disappointing. Yowza. I will say, ever since they finally put wild turkey rye in a 750, I've been drinking way more. I can't remember the last time I bought their bourbon, but I usually buy their rye. Number 11, wild turkey rye. But yeah, up and down, I've always talked about how great wild turkey is. That's sad. Well, look who is on the benchmark train. I mean, it's still a good whiskey. It's a lot better than a benchmark. Well, we're not trying to split hairs here, but it's for $26. I'm really curious what the next one is because the next one I love. Number 11, larceny small batch. Back to Heaven Hill, this is a little older, a little higher proof of their weeded bourbon. Great stuff. This is the more intense Old Fitzgerald. This is because Old Fitz, they literally haven't changed the label since it was the house pour on a cruise liner ship when they had steam engines. It definitely looks like Credence is charting right now. They needed something to attract people that didn't find it cool that the logo is the same as it was 100 years ago. They rebranded Old Fitz as larceny and it's a little older, but same liquid. It has represented an excellent weeded bourbon for people who are looking for excellent weeded bourbon that's always not available. I would say Pepsi challenge this with Weller Green and Maker's Mark. And I put this on the top of the three. We should do that sometime. Good, you love it. Number 12. Available in handles too for like, what's a handle? 50 bucks. Number 12. Yeah, that tricks. Can you turn it slightly? Rebel Yell, Rebel 100, Kentucky straight bourbon whiskey. Yeah, Luxro produced weeded bourbon. This is 100 proof. There's a couple other expressions on the shelf. Do we still have a flood of handpicks from Rebel? There are usually some handpicks in stores for Rebel. No, those were a while ago, because that was when it wasn't their own juice. I think it was when it was Evan Hill. Because I associate this with some that I had in like 2017. So it's ironic that this followed it, because Rebel for years was extra old fits. So it was just handpicked of larceny that would have normally been. We still do handpicks at Luxro with their liquid. I mean, it's this and Ezra. We really like what we're getting for handpicks. Didn't MGP buy them? Yes, but they are a fully operating distillery with Rick Houses and everything in Bartstown, and this is their liquid. All right. What are you guys buying tonight? I'm going to get Dant. Dant was good. I'm going to keep drinking Clark & Sheffield. I've got its cousin JTS Brown at home right now. Is it the same thing? It's pretty close. They're both bottle and bond bourbons from Heaven Hill. They both come in a liter. JTS Brown is in a fifth. If you're in Kentucky though, look for handles of both. We did try JTS Brown in a prior podcast and it was really one. Yeah, JTS Brown is great. Yeah. That was the highly debated though, was that he grabbed it from the whiskey hotline and it was a bottle that had been open for like four years. That's what we're talking about. Oxidation can actually be a good thing. Fresh JTS Brown is great for what it costs. It costs like nothing, but yeah, we literally picked that above all the other, including some stuff that was like $100. Lexi, which ones of these can you stand? Respectfully. Four and six. What were those two, Jim? Evan Williams and Old Fitz. Good to go. Evan Williams, Old Fitzgerald. I do have, oh no, old foe. I've got a soft spot in my heart for Old Forrester. The signature was always, well, they don't call it that anymore. 100 Proof used to be called signature, and it always was a hidden gem. Now there's a lot of higher end Fitzgeralds, it's all really good. Old Forrester. Yeah. Sorry, Old Forrester. But the Old Forrester lineup in general is a very solid lineup. If you're into bourbon, you want to try a bunch of different things. They have the resources of their umbrella company. Yeah, they really under promoted their brand for years because they didn't want to compete with Jack Daniels, I guess. Yeah. It's kind of dumb, but. Or maybe Woodford. When I was visiting Kentucky once, some local was talking about Woodford and they go, you mean Old Forrester in a square bottle? I'm going to be stubborn and stick with Wild Turkey just because. Seriously? Whoa. Wow. Wow. Crazy. It makes a great old fashion. You know what else makes a good old fashion? Number one, old granddad. Sure does. All right. Cool. That was our unedited, well, definitely edited, but uncensored opinions of these affordable whiskeys. What was the takeaway, Chris? You don't have to spend a bunch. No. Dan, if you do, continue to do that, but have some of these too. Yeah, exactly. That's right, Chris. That's exactly right. There's great bourbons all over our store, well, specifically in the Bourbon Isle. I mean, people do drop bourbon in every corner of the store. But go to your local Binny's, talk to your local Spirit staff and get their opinion too, because they might turn you on to something that you haven't had before. Yeah, surely there will be completely different opinions out there. Cool. I think with some of these too, and I was emphasizing you should look for higher proof, try some of these on the rocks too, because whenever I would recommend these, a lot of people would assume from the price point that they were just mixers, like, oh, that's that's fine if you're just mixing it. But some of these are delicious. You can drink dant or larceny on the rocks. No problem. You're touching on a theme also, which is these are the higher proof ones, which is they're just by default going to be more intense. Yeah. So sure. And probably a better value, even though they cost a couple of extra bucks in terms of what's in the bottle. Yeah. Water it down yourself, you know? Yeah. Or don't. Or don't. Whatever you like. It's your bottle. All right. Awesome. Dan, thanks for putting this together. Jim, thanks for dungeon mastering. And thank you for listening to another episode of Barrel to Bottle, The Binny's Podcast. Back in your ear holes soon. What? We don't do that? No. Your millennial is showing. Okay. That used to be cool, you know? What used to be marketed towards? You know? I don't know. Anyway, back in your feed real soon with something great. Until then, I'm Greg. I'm Chris. I'm Lexi. I'm Roger. I'm Dan. Keep tastin.