What were we talking about today? Jim wanted me to come and do a little update on what we've been up to at the Whiskey Hotline. I think it's always good to, we've been doing these kind of monthly roundups of the Whiskey Hotline, because just there's a lot going on. There's always fun stuff. It's not just whiskey in the Whiskey Hotline, but there's a lot of whiskey. Well, and it is the start of Bourbon Heritage Month, so we're gonna start with the tequila. But other than that, we're gonna talk about some bourbon, and you'll see really good deals on bourbon all month long in your local Binny, so keep an eye out there. Happy Bourbon Heritage Month, everybody. The most wonderful time of the year. As though I need an excuse. That's what I tell them. It's Bourbon Heritage Month. You're listening to Barrel to Bottle, The Binny's Podcast. We are back in your feed with something bourbon. I'm Greg. I do communications at Binny's. Jim, also communications. Lexi, social media slash communications. And I'm Dan, and I work for Binny's at the Whiskey Hotline. So I don't know what I do, but I'm here today. Thanks, Dan. A little bit of everything. Whiskey Hotline. All right. So yeah, I brought a bunch of stuff that's relatively new or kind of revisiting things that are around that you should be drinking, especially, you know, it seems early, but it's always good time to think ahead to your holiday parties and buy when you can to stock up for those in advance, save some money by paying attention to that. So we'll kind of go through a number of different things here, but I wanted to start. It's early for us. It's before 11, so I want to start with tequila. Good morning. Kind of ease into the tasting. And the tequila I have here is Manuscrito. It's actually a relatively new for us, tequila. I have the regular. They label theirs by like Chapter 1, Chapter 2. Chapter 1 is their standard proof Blanco. Chapter 2 is their high proof Blanco. We have both of those in about half the stores. Is that because their name means manuscript in Spanish? I think so. But the story here is that they are a trio of friends from Wisconsin. Wisconsin. Wisconsin. Yeah. I'm so glad that we are tasting this because I got some chaff about the Whiskey Hotline email yesterday. From who? My wife. Oh. She was like, Tequila from Wisconsin? What are you doing? It grabbed her attention though, didn't it? It absolutely did, yes. I bet it grabbed a lot of people's attention. Yeah. It's not made in Wisconsin. It's not made in Wisconsin. So it is Tequila. It has to be made in Mexico. Well, these three friends wanted to start a Tequila that was a fusion of traditional practices with some more modern things that can increase efficiency and things like that. So they do a lot of things very traditionally. They use a roller mill, which is not super traditional, but they very gently squeeze the piñas to try to keep as much flavor from the agave, the natural fermentation, copper pot still, and they're pretty good tequilas. Gently squozing piñas. Gently squozing piñas. The smells super fresh and super delicious. It's got a... It's real peppery. Peppery? And fruity. It reminds me of sugarcane rum. It's got a little bit of that... Like slightly funky vegetable. Funky, yeah. Yeah, and I think some of that might be the wild, or they kind of like let natural fermentation happen. And then I think it's a little bit of an extended ferment as well. The bottle actually has quite a bit of details. It has like lime peel, oil, native yeast, 48-hour cooking, two times distilled in copper still. New brand, it's $45 every day. We put it on sale once in a while. The high proof, which I don't have here today, it's very good. It's a great cocktail, tequila. It's got a lot more of like a savory note than this. So that's the second time that lately we've had a tequila, newer tequila that is both a Blanco and a... Is it a high proof Blanco? This one is not, but there is a high proof Blanco that we have in... In this brand? In this brand, yeah. Because I have... Who was... El Mexicano has a high proof, yeah. Because I don't really recall seeing a lot of high proof. Maybe Lexi, you do remember those. But is that a new thing? It's becoming... You see more and more of them. I mean, this is becoming more popular. Yeah. High proof Blancos are definitely like a cocktail nerds specialty. So a lot of people that... Like you'll see the same brand. So for this brand, for example, it's 45 for the regular and 60 for the high proof. And it's worth the money because there's more alcohol. But the average person sees it on the shelf. They don't understand, like, why is this one more expensive? And it's not worth it for a lot of people. But if you much like any other spirit we talk about, when you're using a higher proof spirit, the flavor of that good spirit will be more prominent. And you're getting your money's worth. In my opinion. Sometimes a 40 percent alcohol tequila just gets washed out, much like a 40 percent gin or whatever. Sure. Lexi, you like this one? I do like this one. I was looking at Tapatio. I think they have a high proof repo. Oh, do they? Such a polished and clean tequila, but it still has like intensity in a couple of interesting flavors. Yeah. I think this is a spring tequila. Yeah. Well said. That's good stuff. I like it. I don't know if you guys are getting that peppery moment on the end. It's almost gin-like. Yeah. It's almost gin-like in its herbaceousness. I mean, it's like understated, but wow. Rock and roll. Look at that. Nice. All right. Are we entering our Happy Bourbon Heritage Month portion of the podcast? Yes. We're going to be adjacent to it for a second. Okay. And the first thing that we're going to pour is Whistle Pig, which we love Whistle Pig. Our customers love Whistle Pig. They're known for their rye whiskey. This is actually a wheat whiskey. That's the way that they water it down was with liquid death. So it's a collaboration with liquid death. Oh my goodness. Okay, I want to throw something. Here, throw this cap that looks like a liquid death. Oh my god, it has a... It's kind of cute. Oh, that's awesome. They have some great caps. They have been... Although their solo stove collaboration should have had a little miniature solo stove as the cap. Yeah. Just suggest that to them next time you ever find it. If they did it again, they'd probably... Just suggest it. Just throw it out there. Wheat Whistle Pig? Wheat Soul Pig? I like the coffin on the front. That's great. Liquid death. Yeah. But yeah, so this is their collaboration with liquid death. It is a very, like, Halloweeny label. You've got the coffin, like Lexi said. You've got the pig is holding a scythe. It's spooky. I didn't even see that. Oh, it looks cool. Very cool. And bottled at 86 proof. So very friendly. Wheat whiskey. So it's going to be pretty soft anyway. Smells nice. Smells plush. How much is this? This one is $69.99. Reasonable for a whistle pig. Yeah. It's a wheat whiskey, not bourbon quite yet, but getting there. And then it's super soft. Yeah, I like it actually. Cherry caramel and it's just easy, like butterscotch. Just easy. Does that say gravestock on the bottom? Gravestock is the name of the... instead of a farm stock, it says... Keep pointing out Halloween-ish details. I'm very excited. Final months, resting in peace in a 380-gallon charred American oak casket. Then was proof with liquid death mountain water. Remember by those who know life is too short to drink anything but the best. Well, there you go. Very spooky. It's good. I like it. Yeah. Next, we'll do Fuse Breakfast Whiskey. Nice. It's bourbon fished and finished in maple syrup barrels. Is this a companion to their breakfast gin? I think it came from... They had a cask of maple syrup bourbon aging. And they're like, what do we do with this? And I think Brett's like to sell to us. And then it did really well the first time, so we did it again. So it's a Binny's pick. It's a Binny's hand pick, everybody. Few and far between. Good one. Folks. There's a market at the merchandise mart in the city. And this year there was a guy selling aged maple syrup. And it was like $20 for a bottle, but it was the best maple syrup I've ever had. Bourbon barrel aged maple syrup is worth seeking out. Yeah. Should have bought it. What about Canadian rye barrel aged maple syrup? Barrel aged maple syrup is worth seeking out. They had one that was barreled in a rum barrel. Yeah, you got to have some sugar on that sugar. I should have bought it. I don't know. Oh, this one smells awesome. Made by our friends in Evanston. Yeah. This smells real good. Yeah. It's like the old sailor. Even on the nose, there's a sweetness, but it's tempered by something. Yeah, this is very... I mean, there are like maple syrup, like finishing and honey finishing. They always do really well. Sometimes they're a little overdone for me. They're a little like... or they're just like good. They'd be like good for old fashioners with the sugars already there. You just dump some bitters in and some ice. But this is a lot more understated than some of them. It's there, but it's not. The maple sweetness balances up against what feels like a relatively youthful spirit, you know? It's not overaged, so I think that that's probably a plus in this case. Yeah, and that's like... it's got some spice. It's good. It's like banana. Yeah. Yeah. A lot of... I get a lot of banana. I get sweetness like right in the middle. Right in the middle. But I like that it ends with a punch. It's like a slight herbaceousness, a peppery lift at the finish. Yeah, I mean, it's excellent stuff. Binny Tampik, how much is this Binny Tampik? This is $39.99. Very, very approval. The next thing we're going to do is Elijah Craig, Ryder Cup. The Ryder Cup last year was basically standard Elijah Craig. That is golf, America's Cup, the other rich person sport. Tennis? No, polo, golf, golf, golf. Golf is the only sport I participate in. So the Ryder Cup bottle, last time they did it, which would have been probably two years ago or maybe four, because the Ryder Cup is every other year. And I think it switches between Europe and the United States was just the standard Elijah Craig with just an upcharge. This is finished. So the Ryder Cup is in New York this year. So to honor that, they finished it with pizza barrels. With pizza barrels. Then sugar maple staves. Toasted sugar maple and applewood staves. And so sugar maple is the state tree of New York. And the apple stave is for the fact that we call New York City the big apple. But they also grow a lot of apples in New York. How do you like them apples? Cute. It depends on the variety. It smells delicious. Yeah, I mean, it's got everything you love. I love Elijah Craig. One of my favorite. I can't, can I say that? This is the classic Elijah Craig with just that top note of more fruitiness. This is a very easygoing Whiskey Hotline podcast episode. Everything that we've had so far is like confectionary, sweet. Well, for now. For now. Here comes the brutality. Foreshadowing. Yeah, the apple right on the top of the Elijah Craig, huh? It's like the flavor is like apple bread and like cinnamon. It's really nice. I bet this would be really good in an old fashioned. For sure. Yeah. Super easy on the sugar and then a dehydrated apple instead of an orange. So you get like a little bit of that, but it doesn't add any sweetness to it. Well said. You're totally right. And easy on the bitters too, because you don't want to cover up some of the complexity here. Yeah. That's nice. And I think the extra wood gives it a touch of bitterness too at the finish. This is $69.99 and it's a limited edition, so when it's gone, it's gone. That's a nice one. It's a bummer. It's delicious. Yeah. When is the Ryder Cup? Why'd you do that? I don't know. I don't know, but Jeff keeps telling me that we're not going to have any around by the Ryder Cup the way it's selling. Good. So it must be in like a month, I would guess. It's this month. He's trying to guess when the Ryder Cup is based on sales projections. September 26th, end of the month. I feel like it shouldn't be golf. That doesn't sound like golf. It should be something else. A Ryder Cup? Yeah. It should be moving truck racing. Yeah. Moving truck. Oh yeah, I get you. I don't know, something faster. The next thing we have is Cooper's Craft. This isn't new for us, but it's been pretty tightly allocated for a while, and now we've got good supply so we can talk about it, which is great. This is the Hunter-Proof Cooper's Craft. What makes this unique is that they, who's a woodworker would know the right word for taking a chisel and putting like rivulets in the wood itself, so you're creating more surface area inside the barrel. And that just increases the, how quickly the spirit ages or tastes older. Really nice. That's $40 on the shelf. This $40 on the shelf? Yeah. Hunter-Proof, a lot of wood. I mean, people... Yeah, definitely. People that like wood like a lot of wood. This is a great value. You're blowing my mind, man. Especially if it used to be an allocated item. Yeah, it's something that, you know... Here comes bourbon for all. The waves of bourbon accessibility. More and more we're seeing stuff that was previously relatively unavailable or completely unavailable start to be around more, which is really nice. This is a Hunter-Proof, but it's not bottled and bond. It's not bonded. We don't know the age statement here. Definitely woody. So it's at least four years old. Yeah, at least four years old. Oh, tons of fruit, like baked apples and... A lot of baking spice on those. Not a big bourbon girl, but quite impressed. Yeah. It tastes like banana bread. And there is very little spirit on there for a hundred proof. Yeah, this is smooth. Yeah. I think maybe that extra contact just smells a little bit more. Yeah. Super easy to like... We put it on sale once in a while. Yeah. So that's Cooper's Craft. 40 bucks. Wow. That's... Yeah. The next thing we have... We may have talked about this before, but it's 2XL Gem of Kentucky. Passing around again because it's really good whiskey. We just had a chain-wide price reduction on it. It's cool that it comes in a limited edition Belvedere vodka bottle. And then the... So this is from Dixon Dedman, who was a blender who started Kentucky Elle. And then when they transferred ownership, he started this project. They have like a standard bottling on the shelf. They have this thing called the Icon Series, which talks about his other passions, like vinyl records and sneakers. And then... Yeah, we've had... We've definitely talked about a few of their releases on the podcast, because I remember the different bottles. But he really... Well, so 2XO refers to double barreling. And he really... Like his stuff is always very oak forward. This is like a full workhouse in Kentucky. It smells oak forward. I mean, it smells like oak. Yeah. Real spicy. That is very oaky. It is really oaky. Man, that's a lot of oak. 108 proof. So, I mean, 108 proof also very, very strong, does not... Does not... Maybe a little bit more than the Cooper, but still... Yeah. Pretty mellow. It's all the way at the finish, too. Yeah. Up front, it's very easy to drink. If you like oak. Yeah. And, you know, people like oak. Some people do like oak. I do. Yeah. Yeah. I like a good hit of oak myself. My boss does not like oaky bourbons. Yeah. Your boss likes subtle scotches. Yeah. I like subtle scotches too. I like aggressive scotches. I mean, what don't I like? Let's be honest. Right? I don't really drink like Everclear, I guess. Scented flavored vodka? I mean, I've got a soft spot for some pink Whitney, but. I don't know. Kettle of Botanicals is kind of good. Yeah. All right. Next, we're going to talk about our friends at New Riff. Yeah. Love those guys. So we've got some hand picks. So we've got three bourbons. We're just going to taste one of them and just mostly talk about them. For the listener at home who can't see, Dan is currently sorting a collection of 200-milliliter bottles, tiny little test bottles with handwritten sample labels on them. And he's taunting us by saying that we're only going to get to try one. I can test some. These are chosen already? These are the picks? These are in. These are in our stores. There's not a lot of them. So we're talking about something that you may not be able to find at your local binny's, but we do a couple sets of hand picks from New Riff every year. And they're definitely worth checking out. They are a independently owned distillery that didn't cut any corners when they started. They started by filling full sized barrels with their own distilled liquid. They obviously want to grow, but they're not looking to grow at some crazy speed. They have one Rick House. And I think they make pretty damn good whiskey. They're in Covington, Kentucky, so just over the border from Cincinnati. Fred of the Pod. Yeah. We've had him on before. Oh, the people are great. This smells so classy. Yeah, it's really good. One time, I was there years ago for the first time, and we got to taste this red turkey wheat, which is, I think we've seen it one time, and it was the best whiskey I had that year. And what they did for that one is they partnered with a local bakery to get a very specific strain of wheat. So they do a lot of innovation, but their standard bourbons and ryes are some of the easiest to like on the shelf and super accessible price wise. Yeah. You guys are plowing through these. We haven't even talked about the first one. There's a potpourri nose here. It's so complex, and it is like something different every single time I go to it. So it's kind of tough to describe. It's like apples and cherries and rose petals and orange peel, like dried orange peel. All of these are going to be $60 or $59.99. Then there's marshmallow and candy, ginger and lemon and a refreshing finish. They don't lean too heavily in like the dessert side or the fruit side. It's a perfect balance of everything. That's balanced. This is a complex and balanced. But it's super rich. Like it's just, I mean, it almost tastes like it, like has to have sugar in it because there's so much richness. But it's just like- Rich, that's the word I was looking for, for sure. Okay, we have been describing, I've been describing, 27558. Is that the numbering system that's actually on the bottles and stores? Probably. Or else you have to get out your decoder ring. And this other one is 27410, barrel number. Yeah, that is the number. I've got a match here, so yes. This one's more like dried out and austere. It's like cedar. It was really delightful when it first hit the palate as well. Actually, the bourbons are 54.99 and the rye are 59.99. But yeah, they're doing good things there. I mean- 27410, more lively, more spirited, more like standing tall, more spritzy. A flavor explosion. A flavor explosion. Flav-splosion. Uh-huh. Yeah, I can see that. It's got that like almost, I always think of like, it's hard for me to describe what I'm smelling, but it's like rye bread and like freshly cut meadow. Like yarrow, the flower yarrow, if ever. It's like that like, or like a chrysanthemum. Are you a flower king? Yeah. I used to be a horticulturist. Yes, right. No, no, not a botanist. Sorry, horticulturist. I'm not trained for that. There's the third bourbon. Oh, what are the numbers on the third one? 26906. 26906. I used to love that, Luke Perry. This one's also a continuation of the direction that that last one went. It's got like a cheese quality, too. I thought you didn't like cheese in your spirits. Depends on the type of cheese, I guess. And pineapple or something like that, but baked pineapple. Oh, yeah, definitely a baked pineapple. Maybe it was the power suggestion, but then it's more bread on the palate, more baking, baking spice and brown sugar. I love tasting the differences in these, the tiny little variance because it's the same recipe, it's the same distillation, it's different pieces of wood that they're aged in, and different places in a warehouse with different heat and cold cycles. We have tasting notes right on our website or? Should have. Or in the weekly hours. These usually come in and out so quickly. Sure. The main thing here is just knowing that when you see a New Riff hand pick in our stores, you have to pick it up. They're affordable. They're incredible. How can you tell the Bourbons from the Rye? The green writing is for Rye. Oh, that makes sense. Green is Rye. That's the rules. The Rye is a couple of years older. Rye, yeah. So the Bourbons got a four year age statement. The Rye has got a six year, which is the price differential. All right. Switching to Rye. 15217. Now that's Rye. Has Matt Suit. Oh yeah. Yeah. There is a difference between all of these. I mean, there is a difference. There's a, you can taste it. Yeah. I mean, that's one thing that we are, one of the things in the Whiskey Hotline that we do is, we do all the handpicked spirits and we take it very seriously. We're not, they're not just there to get gas station cheese. I mean, they are. Well, we do buy a lot of sausage when we're in Kentucky, but that's on the way to the distilleries where we actually do taste everything. We eliminate a lot more than we take in. Yeah. And it really is something we do take a lot of pride in. These are things that we actually picked and not just handed to us. Craig, do you have this one? No, I just had the first ride. 14575. 14575. I have 1521714575. Man, this shift from Bourbon to Rye is just so apparent. It's so tannic. I so want to make Manhattan out of this. And it doesn't have like that leanness you sometimes get with Rye. It's still robust on the palate. It's not too herbal. It's more like structured. Higher alcohol? They're all cast-strength. They have a pretty low entry point, so their cast-strength stuff isn't over the top. But it might, it could be a couple points higher. I don't have that information right in front of me. You said 55 and 60 for the rise in the Bourbons, for Bourbon and Rye. Those are values. Yeah. The stuff that's in the bottle, the liquid that's in the bottle there is just stunning. Oh yeah. And you're getting something special that's never going to be around again. Yeah. And they're coming out with older expressions. Like I said, I mean, they did it right. They didn't like a lot of some distilleries when they're starting, they will use small barrels because it makes the spirit taste older, faster. Or they'll buy their first whiskey from another distillery. This is their whiskey. It always has been. And they have a very like sustainable growth pattern and they make killer whiskey, most importantly. Brad, that's good though, right? Very good. Where are we going next? I have one of the Elijah Craig barrel proof hand picks that we have here. These tend to kind of... Dan produced two small plastic bottles, rubber banded together. They're the same, though. They're both the same thing. Liquid? Yep. Greg, you can't try them both. You can, but it's the same thing. You should have just had him try them side by side and see if he can pick out differences. This is way more subtle, this one. That's terrifying. Elijah Craig, we mentioned earlier that a lot of bourbons that would have previously been nearly impossible to find because they were just so tightly allocated are becoming more available. Elijah Craig, Barrelproof is one of those examples. This is our handpick. Handpicks, the difference between the handpick and the standard release. Standard release is typically, there's no age statement. There is an age statement on it, but it typically floats routine like ten and a half in like twelve and a half years, whereas our handpicks are seven to nine, typically. But Elijah Craig Barrelproof is pretty much available in every store now. If you really truly enjoy drinking bourbon, and you don't have a bottle of that open, that you're actively drinking in your house at all times, then you're completely missing the boat. Because it is one of the greatest Barrelproof whiskeys that I've ever had is Elijah Craig Barrelproof, consistently release after release. Challenge accepted, sir. The fact that it sits around now is great. I mean, it doesn't sit around. We sell a lot of it. There's just more of it out there, so it's available. The fact that it's available now is fantastic. How many years is this? I don't know the age, but it's probably, like I said, the handpicks are seven to nine years old. It's got some woody tannic, oaky tannic. It says OED 11416. Is that original entry date? It's on the far right above FY260. Oh, yeah. So, yeah, this is nine years old or eight and a half. Yeah. This is also, as Jim coughs, I'll tell you, this is 143.7 proof. Dumb bears, dumb bears. So this is a strong one, but just rich and expressive and just delicious and I love it. We threw it down the wrong pipe. I don't know how to describe this tasting note. It seems to me like a limestone crispness that keeps it from being too sweet. Sure. It's like the higher edge of the nose. I don't know how to describe it. A little like, yeah, I mean, there's like minerality maybe is what you're getting at. I always associate that smell with this classy like refined quality. I don't know where it comes from. Yeah, man. It's super high toned. It's not like lemon, but it's in the, as a lemon is to an orange, it's like a lifted version of bourbon. It has all these big bombastic rich notes, but it's not flabby. Yeah. It's still like focused and it's nice. I mean, again, high proof bourbon from heaven hell. Don't let it sit on the shelf. Buy it, drink it, enjoy it. I'm probably going to buy a bottle of this. How much is this? Probably going to buy a bottle of that one too. It's definitely at that Cooper's. Yeah. And that Apple one was on. There's $79.99 for the hand picks. $79.99 for this barrel proof hand pick. There's not a lot of yield from these barrels because of the age. So I think if any store got one, they got one of them. I think we chose three last time. So grab it when you see it. And you're absolutely right. If you're a bourbon guy and you have a collection of open bourbons that you drink, this would be a measuring stick. Yeah. And for barrel proof, I mean, the drinkability here for something that's over 140 proof is pretty remarkable. And it's super lively and youthful for being nine years or eight and a half or whatever. Yeah. Yeah. Don't take my coughing fit to mean that it was too hot. I just went down the wrong pipe. Right. Yeah. It was very drinkable. That happened to me over the weekend with vegetarian pizza rolls. Oh, man. What brand are those? Totanos? I think they're Morningstar. Oh, I did that with a big pepperoni in there. A cheeseburger on the beach at Evanston. Sunday. What did you choke on over the weekend? I did not. Oh, I just picked this bourbon up again. And it's like super tropical now. Oh, yeah. Yeah. The second time I got sweeter. The next thing we have is a Scotch from Glenn Alleky. It's their 10. This year's edition of their 10 year old bottled nonchill filtered at 59.7 percent alcohol. Glenn Alleky. I'm worried this is going to come in and get stepped on by that last thing. That's a cast strength. I mean, it's, you know, delicious and not a peaty Scotch at all here. No, no, no, Pete. A little more palatable to Lexi. Almost appley. Yeah. Delightful. Fruity. The switch from corn to malt is always a shocker. And boy, do I love malt. You know, I got really nervous when you said you had a Scotch. And I really like it. I think I've gotten two Scotches now that you've enjoyed. So it's a lot better than a year ago. Yeah. Well, the thing about Scotch is sometimes people try to be a little gatekeeper and be like, here, try this Ardbeg 10. It tastes like Band-Aids. You don't like it. Why don't you like it? I love Ardbeg 10, by the way. But I understand that that is not a good entry point for people, much like a really tightly bound Bordeaux isn't a good entry point for red wine. I mean, there's places to start with everything. This is strong. Glen Alky in general is a great place to start with Scotch if you're... But if you want to just stay at the entry point, stay there. I've actually... I've played stuff like this out there. I've actually regressed or not regressed. We've been saying that about you for a while, Dan. Well, in other ways. Oh, about your alcohol. Okay, got it. Got it. Okay. After college, when I stopped drinking Bushlight and Captain Morgan when I was in grad school, the first things I drank were IPA and Isla Scotch. And it took me like 20 years to get to the point now where I actually... I still love Isla Scotch. I also drink IPA. But give me a Miller High Life and a Space Side any day. Yeah. Taste change over time. Soft baking spices, a dusting of cocoa powder, just a little bit. And then it's all in support of this pear fruit, this apple and pear fruit. Really silky and on the palate. There might be a touch of that, almost like a sulfuric component that you get from a sherry cask on the very end, which might give you the impression of smoke, but really that's just from the preservation of a sherry cask. But really subtle and nice and round and delicious. Yeah. I think I'm usually pretty sensitive to that sulfur thing, but it's inoffensive here. Yeah. It's there, but it's just like, I don't know, it just reminds you that you're drinking scotch instead of something else. It plays as like a meatiness in this whiskey, like almost not like a savory component, but that's how it hits me anyway. Okay. That's delicious. How much is it? Yeah. 99.99. I want a fur blanket and a fireplace. Oh, yeah. It's almost time. Cast Strengths Spaceside. It's in about half our stores, I think. Still, they do one of these every year. Just doing really good things. Awesome. Next, we're going to switch over to rum. We've got a few rums here. There's some association or partnerships with cigars with this rum. So the name of the rum is escaping me right now. Elion Jimenez. Yeah, Elion Jimenez. And there's a this is their extra on Yeho. We have a few of these coming in stores. They're not going to be everywhere. But this is rum from Dominica. Dominican Republic. So it's soft. It's very relatively sweet, which is usually what you're looking for when you smoke a cigar. It's either sugar packets or rum to when your blood sugar bottoms out when you smoke a cigar. Or Dr. Pepper. Or Dr. Coke. Sugar packets or rum. Yeah, I mean, this is an easy rum. Like it's sweet. Very easy. It's like a really mellow cola. Yeah. Yeah. It has like an orange peel, I'm for sure. You ever had a cocktail with a cola syrup? Nope. Okay. Well, it tastes kind of like a cola syrup. Just like they take coke and you reduce it down. Nice. It's a pretty easy cocktail ingredient. It's also really good as an additive and an overproof spirit for like, use that as your sugar in a rum old fashioned. Oh, yeah. So this is kind of a sneak preview too, because these are, there's a series of them coming soon. So I don't have price. Actually, this one is $44.99. And that is in some stores right now. But there's some other higher marks from them in a few stores as well. I can see the appeal for having this with a cigar. It's like just easy and sweet. It doesn't seem like a good mixer, because it's going to just disappear in the background of something. But if you just wanted a rum to sip on its own. Yeah, you could get away with like a rum old fashioned. I think there's enough sweetness there. But no, this is an easy one. So now we've had an easy rum. Let's go to Jamaica. So Jamaican Rums, the way that they produce them, they have these things called dunder pits on site that they put. You can almost think of it as like a compost pile of sorts. Oh, no, you could definitely think of it like that. Yeah, because it's literally a compost pile. Yeah, it's like re-fermenting stuff. Oh, my God. The bottle just passed by my face and I smelled it. No, it's good. As you're describing the word compost, like, Maybe we talk about open fermentation. Well, they add, so they add this, they take this dunder stuff and they put it into the, basically the distillate runs through this and adds a ton of like esters. And you have a lot, you have really long fermentation, which also develops esters. So these Jamaican rums are just in your face, estery. And Lexi, you like these rums. I love them. Yeah, I love a Jamaican rum. It's so weird because I feel like it's in the neighborhood of peatiness, because I get a medicinal kind of, I feel like they're cousins. There's a medicinal, like I'm just there's a little bit of an iodine kind of thing here. Or menthol. Yeah. But it's like a banana that turned black and then sprouted new life. Yeah. This is so good. But the black bananas make the best banana bread. So this is Hampton Estates 1753. It's the latest offering from them. I like this better than a super peaty scotch though. I would rather, I think I'd enjoy this more than a super peaty scotch. There's something in there. It depends on the month. Yeah. This is $79.99. Just incredible. Actually, that's a good point. If you're, I mean, peaty scotch drinker and you want to branch out a little. You're a peaty boy. Try some aged Jamaican rum. This is surprisingly light on its feet when it's actually on your palate. And what seems like it's going to be just heavy rotten fruit is it's like this lively little guy with spray paint. I forgot a touch of that. But they're so good because you mix them into a tiki cocktail and it just makes this incredibly complex cocktail that every single sip is so crazy different. Yeah. I mean, they tell you to use four rums and you're like, okay, get out of here. But there's a reason why because you're using different kinds of rum and this is one of them. And it's got that element that you want in the tiki drink. Yeah. A Jamaican, a sweet, an overproof, and a dark. Yeah, strong, sweet, and then peeling out on black asphalt. So add a little bit of that to your tiki drink. Just wait till you try the next one. Speaking of tea cocktails. The nose here is like, I keep going back to, I don't even know if we sell this anymore, but that one from, what's that one from New Orleans, Dan? The rum. Oh, Cherimie? Yeah, that's right. It's a hint to that. And now when I smell it again, the first smell was awful. But when I go back to it, it's got more of that vegetal green agro-colishness. Yeah, you're right. You're right. Once you get past the Ethiopian light roast cocktails. Yes. Also, if you like those really funky mezcal and agave spirits, this is like the same. Yeah. What's the price on that one, by the way? $79.99. Hampton, they're, well, so we still have these in a lot of stores, but they did a set of all their different marks of how estuary the rums are, all the way up to this one that is only typically available in Europe, and it is almost undrinkable. I think we've talked about it before. Yeah, I've seen it. I know what you're talking about. It's a very handsome box set. Yeah. So those box sets have, and there's an aged one and an unaged one from this distillery, and they just make, you know, everything from well-ester to just in-your-face, like almost undrinkable. You know, that's a matter of opinion. Well, you can technically drink anything, but whether or not you like it. What's the story with Smith and Cross? So Smith and Cross is a Navy strength rum. This is, I think it's $30. What? Yeah. Let me double check that. Very big rum in Detroit. Pure Pot Still Plumber and Wedderburn, Wedder, whatever. The British sure left their mark on this world. Traditional Jamaican pure pot still. 30 bucks. Oh man. Smells like Bananas Foster. Yeah, it's actually on sale right now for $27.99. Is this also Dunder Pitted? Yep. So it's... I thought that all Jamaican rums were open fermentation. I thought it was like not all, but that's like the process. Yeah. So that is going to be something that you'll see in all rums. There's different levels of like Appleton, for example, is a very friendly style of Jamaican rum. I think Lexi wants to talk about fauna passing out and falling into the open top fermenters. I think if you would do that, I think you would just like a cartoon, I think all of your skin would melt off. Well, Plumber and Wetterburn is an old reference to the ester levels in the rum. What? We would just use the number as a number now, but Plumber and Wetterburn is like a designation. If it was Wetterburn, it was like this much ester, if it was Plumber. You can find lists of the ranges of ester levels. We're not going to get into that here, but this is a- Oh, man, you got a real fluburn organ of esters on that one. That's exactly right. It is not the friendliest rum to just sip on, but boy, is this incredible in a tiki cocktail. If you need an affordable fourth rum, or make this your second rum, add three and four to balance this out a little bit. To add this to a- Okay, on the nose, this is polite. Yeah. It smells like banana bread, it smells like banana foster, it's not too weird. It's a little weird on the palate, but not bad. Dunder pit is not the same as open fermentation, right? I mean, we're talking about two different things. So, dunder is the pit, this stuff that is re-fermenting, so it's like the leftovers from fermentation. Which is going to be like molasses and stuff like that. Yeah, just the kind, and whatever they're pulling out of there. After it's distilled, whatever they're pulling out, like sludge, they're putting in this pit, people will throw their mango pits in there, like whatever. Yeah, and my predecessors used to say, if a bird flew over it and got too much CO2 and fell into the dunder pit, it's part of the dunder pit now. So it's just whatever is around. And then, yeah, this is added back in for distillation. A small amount is added back in to distillation. And if something, I mean, these dunder pits have been going for hundreds of years in some cases. It's a dunder pit coupé. And some rum distilleries, if something happens to the dunder pit, they will shut down production until it's back in line. So gotta shut it down. OK, go on. What could possibly happen to a dunder pit that would make you shut it down? You can't fall in falling in is the only thing that shuts it down. Perhaps that's that's that's a rumor that is around. Have they ever heard of a dunder fence? No, it takes away the these things are like you can't find pictures of them online because like they're super secretive. This is like the secret magic of Jamaican rum. We don't want people that we don't want our competitors to know what rot is in here. I think if people saw the pictures, they probably wouldn't drink the rum. That's right. Why? Let's go on a journey, right? This smells nice and easy. It's banana bread. Enters the palate, you get this bright fresh burst of candied lemon, and then it fades down into candied orange, and then on the back edge, you've got one of those little fire guns for flaming foods. A flambé gun. You got a flambé gun, and you just char that sugar so that it crisps up, and it's crunchy on the back edge. That's what this is what it's like. Yeah. This is unappealing on first taste, and then it grows on you very quickly. I think this would make an incredible rum old fashioned. I also think that- Smith and Cross Daiquiri. Smith and Daiquiri. Even in Daiquiri, you can use a couple of rums. I like a Daiquiri that's like two-thirds like a Dominican rum or a South American rum, and then a third Jamaican rum that really lifts the spirit, and it plays well with the lime, I think. What's your sweetener in this Daiquiri? Demerara sugar is my standard. Let's tell the people why you use four different rums. What are you doing there? What's the goal? There's several different rums. If you look at a category like bourbon, bourbon has a lot of rules about how much corn has to be in it, how much age, what kind of barrels are used. There's a lot of rules. So bourbon, obviously there's differences between different bourbons. There's a general like bourbon kind of tastes like this, and you have your preferences, there's things you look for, things you don't, whatever. With rum, there's just so many wildly different ways that they're produced, whether it's- Because you can make it anywhere in the world. Make it anywhere, you can age it how you want, you can use different finishing barrels, you can have like Jamaican rum or they're putting dunder in it, you can have molasses as the sugar source, you can have fresh pressed cane juice, and all those Wooden still. You can have a wooden still. You can have an assortment of stills. The Demerara Valley distillers and their wooden stills. So there's all these different factors that create, if you go down a rum aisle and you choose, if you just randomly choose five rums from five different countries, you're going to have five different drinking experiences. Yes. And when you are making a cocktail, you're looking for interest and you're wanting the rum to stand out. So when you blend them together, you're increasing the flavor of the rum in the cocktail. Okay. That's the way that I look at it. Yeah. And it just makes it more interesting. It's like a Blanco, an Overproof, an Aged, and a Funky kind of ish. I feel like if I was going to make a tiki, well, I mean, it would depend on the tea drink. But if I was going to do something classic, like let's just say a daiquiri, I would typically pick something Overproof in a smaller amount, maybe like 0.75 ounces, and then maybe like 1.25 ounces of something a little bit sweeter, but probably Jamaican, and then something sweeter, like something sweet and Jamaican. And I just like that it makes it more complex. Think about like Bacardi, lime, sugar. You can kind of get that anywhere. Sounds pretty basic. Right? You start mixing this stuff, it gets... You add in some funky Jamaican and some extra sweetness. And then it's also kind of like a challenge to try to recreate that cocktail over and over again. So in that regard, individual rums are a lot more like single malt scotches or different house-blended scotches. Well, then you have unaged and you have aged, I mean, yeah. So there's a lot of factors there. And when you really get into rum, you can just play around with it and find the mix that you like. And the great thing is that rum is by and large relatively affordable. Yes. For all the... I mean, this one's 30 bucks, they're 27.99. We got light rums, always inexpensive. But then even the aged rums are... There are some aged rums that are very inexpensive, especially compared to bourbon or scotch. So you can buy four different bottles of rum and not have to spend $400. Also, you're not using a lot of them for one cocktail. So you can... I've got a bottle of overproof rum that's probably been there for three years, and I drink it regularly. I just use like 0.25 ounces in a cocktail. And your orgeots and your falernums and your pimento drams that you're using just a little bit. So yeah, it might seem a little imposing to start your tiki bar, but... Falerna. Falerni. You're falerna. That's exactly right. I mean, you can... and it's just... I think it's just fun. It's just fun to play with these things. I think rum is a category that especially bourbon drinkers need to pay more attention to because there's a lot to love in that aisle. Yeah. Are we capping it off with this one? This is the last thing that we have. Is this going to upset me? I don't think so. Am I going to love it? I don't know. Let's find out. This is Penelope Black Walnut Old Fashioned. So they came out with a peach old fashion this past spring, and it has been... I mean, we get our allocation. It's gone. It comes back in. It's gone. It's been in and out really fast. Black Walnut is the same. We're selling a lot of it, but we have more of it, and there's more available. And it's new. I think we got it maybe two weeks ago. 35 bucks. It's $29.99. It's $29.99. Okay, so this is really good. This is a premixed cocktail. This is RTD. So it's a blend of bourbon and rye with bitters and then vanilla-laced demerara syrup. That's why I love it. This is really good. It's called Walnut Bitters? Yeah, Walnut Bitters, yep. Okay, maybe this is a unique experience, but if I'm having people over and I want something easy and we want to do a shot, this is perfect. You're not supposed to shoot in old-fashioned. Yeah, I want to enjoy this on our own. Why not? Yeah, I know you're right. I know you're right. I mean, it's a super easy cocktail to make. Also, just pour it on a big ice cube and you're done. So Penelope has been doing really well. They do a lot of unique finishes. They're owned by MGP now, which gives them a library of just incredible whiskeys to choose from. And yeah, they make great stuff. Some of their releases, they've got this Rio and this Havana, two different bottlings that are finished in rum barrels that are just crazy hard to find. And their standard offerings on the shelf are great and super affordable. Nice. If I were at the soundboard and I could manage the sliders, like I can when I'm making an old-fashioned in my basement, I would dial the sweetness down a tiny bit, and I would dial the black walnut bitter up a little bit, because it's there. And I just want a little more snap from it. But that means that this is like 9.8. Buy yourself some Fee Brothers walnut bitters and just add a little bit. Yeah, I would probably put a little, like, and you can get, like, their, I think their cast-strength, Penelope cast-strength forgerain is like... I think I would also do that. If I was going to have, if I was going to make an old-fashioned for someone and serve it, I might amp it up. Amp up the bitters? Amp up the spirit. The spirit. The vanilla demerara is really the star of the show here. Yeah. Yeah, definitely. I think it also could use citrus, like orange, something like that. Pour this over an orange slice and a black moment. You got to garnish it. Well, so their barrel-proof bourbon is $60. So if you, to me, I'd put like, I'd want a little bit more bourbon, but I like a really bourbon-heavy or rye-heavy old-fashioned. I like a strong old-fashioned. So if you did that, like this is a, but even just on its own, pour this on ice. Yeah, no, this is really enjoyable. Especially if you've got friends over and they're going to be going home at some point. You're not just going to be. I've been really into black Manhattans with walnut bitters or just nocino and walnut. Just really amping up the walnut and just going walnut crazy. Jim made nocino. I made nocino. It wasn't that good. It was great. I drink more than anybody else, but more than Jim. But yeah, I still have bottles, but I think some excellent store-bought nocinos out there, but the walnut bitters also. Would you say that you've been going nuts? No. Yes, I have been. Walnuts. Black walnuts are a little bit on trend, or black walnut bitters are on trend a little bit. I mean, we're selling a lot of them. People are playing around with them. So this is great. I've turned a lot of people onto, a lot of friends and family onto the black Manhattan and the walnut bitters specifically and this kind of old-fashioned, I think would also be very popular. Timely. Within the last three weeks? Within three weeks, definitely. I bought a purchased drink, consumed, finished. The Hockstotters Slow and Low Rock and Rye, which is probably the closest comparison to something on the shelf today. This is a little bit more money and it's a lot more sweet and it's a noticeable step up in terms of class and complexity. People like sweet though, as we know. Yeah. Well, I mean, the Slow and Low is pretty sweet too. Yeah. Yeah, Slow and Low is a good one too. And boy howdy. If you want to know the nights I had it, anytime that I was in a bad mood the next day, if I was in a bad mood in the morning, the night before I had it, because there's something about the sugar headache. Yeah. I found fun. Yeah, I've been there and I'm sure I will again. So. Well, this is going to be an easy shelf grab too. Yeah. Sorry for costing you so much money this week. You could bring it to a party. Yeah. And I think this like the flavor is like the walnut and the vanilla. To me, this would be a great thing just to have on the bar, like at your holiday parties from now until the end of the year. And again, I'm glad that Belvedere has a way to use their excess bottles. I'm glad people are buying them up. Yeah. Thank goodness. I was worried for a while. Yeah. All that stock of glass they had. Yeah. So that's all. That's what we've been doing. That's the things we've been tasting and liking and talking about. And I hope you guys enjoyed it. Dan, you're crushing it. Keep fighting the good fight. And bringing the good stuff to Let Us Try. If you are out there or interested in any of these things or you want to talk spirits, hit up the Whiskey Hotline. Check out binnys.com and you can get their contact information. Otherwise, email me and I'll give you Dan's cell phone number. So I want someone to talk to me, you know. Silence. It's a good resource and people need to take advantage of it. I called this Binny's guy and he talked for like two hours. We will do that sometimes. But no, I mean, we are there. This is what we're here for, is you guys to call us and ask questions. The hotline is real. If you call us and ask about, you know, how much Blanton's we're getting, we're not going to, we don't know and we won't tell you if we do. But, you know, there's a lot of, we won't do that, but we'll guide you in another direction because there's a lot of good stuff out there and we try almost, if not all of it, so. Proof positive this lineup here on the table today. Awesome. Thank you. Thank you. And thank you for listening to another episode of Barrel to Bottle, The Binny's Podcast back in your feed real soon with something interesting. I'm Greg. I'm Jim. I'm Lexi. I'm Dan. Keep tasting.