So do we have all 20? No. Oh, sorry. What are you doing? A couple were actually out of stock. Okay, meaning we had them and they were gone. We had them and they were gone. And then a couple are too limited. Limited and sold out, or only one doesn't have distribution here. So we'll mention those as we go past them, but then we'll taste the rest and offer our notes. Eleven's pretty good, which means there's good availability. It's more than half of this list. Yeah. Okay. So we're going to taste the whiskies of 2022. Yeah. According to. Oh, and one's coming soon. We don't have it yet. Okay. We'll get a sneak preview of that too. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah, that's right. Yeah. I'm not going to lie, I don't know what we're doing. Okay. Well, roll the intro music and then we'll explain it to Jenna. Hey, you're listening to another episode of Barrel to Bottle, The Binny's Podcast. I'm Pat, I do spirit stuff here at Binny's. I'm Jenna, I just found out what I'm doing here today. Roger. Beer. Chris, I do wine, and I don't know what I'm doing. Wherever I am, or whatever time it is. I am Greg, I do communications at Binny's, and I've been looking forward to this episode since we did it last year. That's because you're a tater. All right, so what we're doing this year is we are taking the Whisky Advocate Top 20 List, tasting through what we have available at any given Binny's store. Then we're going to debate the merits of its placement on that list. Fair? Honest, unvarnished truth. More options are readily available this year, so clearly they listen to our podcast. Well, there were a fair bit of options available last year too, I think. But if you go back 10 years, it was always single casks, single malts that were sold in the Netherlands and stuff. And it was complete unobtaining them. And it is kind of refreshing that they have bottles that anybody could have found at some point this year had they bothered to ask. Do you think overall the price points are a little lower this year too? They seem to be. I've got the prices written down here on what we've got. So we're going to start with number 20, which is a new everyday line extension from Craig Ellicay. It is a Craig Ellicay 13-year-old Arminia cask finish. So the regular Craig Ellicay is also a 13-year-old. This is a $5 upcharge on the shelf. This is $69.99 at your local Binny's. We've talked about Craig Ellicay several times on the podcast before, known for its meaty, sulfury character, big, robust single malt. Really great stuff. Favorite of the Whisky Hotline. I really, really like this bottle of scotch. The Arminia cask, it's the masculine one, right? So it should be pumping it up even more, reinforcing that or? A little bit of earthiness to it for sure, a little bit of spice. It's still a brandy though, so you should still get some level of dried stone fruit type of thing going on. I was going to say, I feel like there's a fair amount of pear in here. It's all pear. And I find that in Arminia cask sometimes too. But yeah, that kind of minerally note is there too. And on the finish, just a wisp of country ham. Yeah, agreed. I mean, there's barely any smoke here, but it's there. It's there. Yeah. And it's a completely unpeated whiskey that's just, it's sulfuric character that you're perceiving in smoke. Yeah. That's pretty surprising. That it's unpeated? I think people would try this and maybe think it was peated. I would have guessed so, yeah. Yeah, that was my first thought. I thought it was very subtly done because it's not screaming smoke, but it's undeniably part of the profile. I agree with everything that was said. What's good stuff? For $70, I think this is a great Scotch. I would probably say this is comfortably within the top 20-ish or so new whiskies of the year. What's the proof here? Proof here is 92. This is non-chill filtered. Is this something they're going to routinely produce? Yeah, this is an everyday item. A new line extension. Craig Elakey forever has, at least since its introduction to the States as an OB single mold, has had the 13-year-old and then a 17-year, and then there's, I want to say, a 23 and a 33. But really, the only one on the shelf under 100 bucks is the 13-year at $65, and now this 13-year army neck finish is $69. I'd like to emphasize, again, the beefiness of this and it has this spice and it has this black pepper spiciness. I'm going to agree with you completely because I just took a bigger slug of it. Yeah. It's very spicy on the finish. There's definitely black pepper there. And the mouthfeel is very rich and meaty. It's a big one. There's really nice fruity finish that I'm enjoying a lot. Like the pear? Yes. Yeah. Loving that. It's a good mixture, though. I mean, there's definitely the spice complexity here. There's a white pepper node and almost an all-spice character. What are Armagnac casts like, bro? Are they very large? They are about 450 liters usually. And they're a single use or? No, no. So just like Cognac, when the Armagnac distillate comes off the sill, it's going into a new barrel. And then after a few years, that gets transferred to a second-use barrel. And then after a few more years, that gets transferred to a third-use barrel, and so on and so forth. The interesting thing about Armagnac is actually though, every time it gets transferred between barrels at most Armagnac houses, it gets watered down slightly and oxygenated slightly. So, pretty cool. This is weird maybe too, and I was just picking this up on the back end, a little bit a hint of that rancio nuttiness that you get out of older brandies. I feel like that's in there too, and I think it's coming from the barrel. This is a gorgeous whiskey. Craig Elky always punches above its weight, aged a dollar-wise anyway at that 13-year, and I think this actually added a nice different layer of complexity to it, yeah. 70 bucks is a great price. If this was bourbon, it would be $200. It would be $200 without a doubt, and you wouldn't be able to get it. Yep. This is a fun one to listen to you pronounce properly. I think I've heard this pronounced pretty hilariously over the years. Is it Craig-al-licky? Craig-al-litchy. Craig-al-litchy. We are supposed to stop by there on our annual Scotland buying trip this year and potentially snag a single barrel, possibly of this. Sneak peek, nerds. Listen up. All right, moving on. Number 19 this year is a special limited release from Teeling. You can still get it at maybe about a dozen or so Binny's. It is the latest release in their Wonders of Wood series, and this is a single pot still Irish whiskey that was wholly matured in virgin chinkapin oak. The Wonders of Wood series. Wonders of Wood. Not just Wonders of Wood. I mean, that is, wow. But also, it's Wonders of Wood chinkapin. So cue the PBS intro music. The Wonders of Wood. The Wonders of Wood. That's playing the Marty Stouffer's Wild America theme. Marty Stouffer. Oh my God. That was one of my favorite shows growing up. I was going to say, I forgot that person existed. So Single Pot Still Irish Whisky, if anybody recalls, is a style known to be uniquely Irish, although there are a couple American craft distillers making it now. Single Pot Still means it's made at a single distillery in a pot still, and it's made out of both malted and unmalted barley. Unmalted barley gives it a richer, spicier character, oilier mouthfeel. It also helps that this is bottled at 100 proof. So all the tealine Single Pot Still so far have been bottled at that higher proof. Virgin Oak, usually not particularly friendly for a malt barley whisk. I've talked about this before, malt barley is very delicate. Too soft. So where's he getting all the cherry from? Because this is freaking awesome. Peach and cherry and- Yeah, it really stands up to the new oak. So it is triple distilled. Tealine has- Triple distillation in Ireland is not a law, but it is kind of a tradition. Tealine has a triple pot still set up. The more times you distill it, you're going to get a little lighter in character, but you're going to really amp up the fruitiness. Yeah, you say lighter in character, but the first thing that just jumps out at me is that oily mouthfeel. I mean, it's incredible how- If this was a traditional mashbill of malted barley and you triple distilled it, it would be much lighter and delicate and easy. I was going to say, it's very full for an Irish. Tealine also does the maximum amount of unmalted barley you can use. It's a 50-50 mashbill of malted and unmalted, which is more than anybody else is doing right now. So chinkapin oak is really just American white oak, but it's like a subspecies, is my understanding. It tends to grow on very rocky outcrops. So for what we've learned recently really, is that chinkapin oak has been mixed in with American white oak, as long as we've been cutting and processing American white oak for various uses. We didn't really know about it until we were able to genetically isolate it. It takes a very trained eye to see it. It looks just like white oak, especially once it's sawn in the mill. There is still debate among distillers about what it really adds to a whiskey. Some people say it gives a bit more caramelized toffee character versus the more classic vanilla. I'd say it adds like $15 or $20. It sure seems like it. Well, I have several questions because one thing I immediately noticed in the nose was like a butterscotch-y type thing going on, which I was assuming was from the oak. That's number one. Yeah, butterscotch. Yeah, for sure. Number two, so Quercus alba, right? Is this actually a separate species, subspecies? Hang on, let me go to the Google machine really quick. I'm just curious because- They're about to become a science singularity. Venis vinifera is the same gene, the same species of all the different kinds of grapes. For all the classic wine grapes. All the classic wine grapes. It's Quercus mulinbergi. What? Well, all that aside, going back a minute, did you say it's virgin oak? Wait a minute, the syllables are getting out of control here. Quercus mulinbergi. Quercus mulinbergi. Quercus is the oak genus. Quercus alba is American white oak, Quercus robor is European oak, Quercus mongolica is Japanese oak or Mongolian oak. Settle down over there. This is almost certainly named for the person who identified it. Yes. And what was the non-scientific name of this species of oak? Chinkapin. So, Chinkapin quercus bulinoba. Nailed it. What? Is this a Pokemon Go character? It's related to the chestnut oak. There's a chestnut oak? Yes. There's not a chestnut? Correct. So, this is s*** tree. So, this is- Do you want an arm wrestle? This is oaky, I mean, for sure. Yeah. For sure. I mean, to someone especially that might have tried other Irish whiskies, you would never have this much oak character. It depends, but I mean, keep in mind, this is a specific limited release series focusing on the oak. Right. This is a $100 one-off. Not just any series, the wonders of wood. This is not for a Jameson drinker for sure, but this is a $100 one single time release, single pot still whiskey bottle that 100 proof. It sounds like it's a shot at the bourbon drinker, but I think the bourbon drinker is going to be surprised by the bright freshness and elegance in life that this has on top of the wallop of wood, which speaks really well to this, that it can be so I was going to say, well, the vanilla is the first thing that comes out, is vanilla, this oaky flavor, but all of that fruity quality makes this seem really light in comparison to bourbons. So here I was thinking, wow, this is a really light whiskey forgetting it's an Irish whiskey. Yeah. It has a quality though that I would almost say this presents to me more like a rye than a bourbon though. It's drier, it's oakier, it has like a leathery and dry spice. Look at how thick the legs are on the glass on this thing. Well, one thing I was going to ask, so we know it's virgin American oak, but how is it treated? It's not charred like for bourbon, is it? No, generally virgin is going to be like just toasted. Just toasted. That's what I was assuming because there's no way that it would be like. Quercus mulenbergi named after Gotthiff Heinrich Ernst Mühlenberg. Of course. Yeah. Okay, great. Next. Why do you hate Linnaeus? Passing around now, number 18, which is Hardin's Creek, Colonel James B. Beam. Hardin's Creek debuted this year as a, I think they're calling an experimental series or some crap. It's just the leftover stuff at Beam, and they put it in these bottles with this leather strap over the top. It just gets in the way when you're flooring. Floppy and completely useless. So they had a 15-year- You're talking about me. So the Hardin's Creek had two releases this year. There was a 15-year-old, which was like 170 bucks or something and sold out immediately, and there's this two-year-old that we have plenty of it every Binny's location. This right here? Yes. It's two years old and we have plenty of it. Yes. How much is it? It's like $180, isn't it? $80. Okay. Just making sure. It's absurd, but it's not as absurd as what I said. It's an $80 two-year-old bourbon. Oh my. Yeah, what proof? You got the bottle. Oh no, bottles are in front of me. Roger, you said the last one was woody. This is 108 proof. This smells like sawn wood. And corn. And corn. Yeah, but it also has that like bittle honey, corn puddin. It's corn puddin. This is not corn puddin, sir. It's not casserole. It's not cooked. It's honestly corn silo dust. It's grain bin. Yeah, it's corn grain bin. Yeah, actually you're right. Whatever it is, it's not good. Well, so it definitely has the signature Beam calling card of like a roast peanut character. That is Jim Beam and the yeast they use through and through. This is a fine bourbon. If someone handed me this bourbon and I put it in a big glass with a big ice cube, I would drink it. You would say, hey, when are you going to switch to Big Barrels? No, because I don't think it shows a green immature wood. No, I'm not getting a lot of wood. I'm getting a lot of grain. Yeah, it's very grainy. It's like mellow corn corning. I think this tastes like a $24 bourbon. How much does that mellow corn cost, Rod? They went up in price. It went up, but it's still under 25 bucks. I think it's like 20, 24. Yeah, it might be 24. Yeah, this is night and day to that though. I think this is better. But the problem is exactly what you say. It's not an $80. Yeah. It's a flavor profile by any stretch of the band. There's nothing wrong with this bourbon, but top 20 of the year, get out of here with that nonsense. Well, that's what I mean. Yeah, when I say it's not good, I mean, we're $80 and in the top 20, no way. Yeah, no way. I think most of us agree on that. Anybody a dissenter? The little leather straps got to count for something. Apparently $70. That's the kind of embellishments they put on, stuff you need to give your dad for Father's Day. Yeah. Your dad will like this. Yeah, it's like the Amazon gift list that's like, oh, here's gift ideas for your dad. This should come with a scarf and a comb. Yeah. Hey, dad, here's some leather gloves, some Stetson cologne, and a bottle of bourbon. And a diagram of how to do a proper comb over? Wait, so would anybody buy this at $80 in this room? No, absolutely not. Okay. I also would not. This tastes like bourbon that you can buy in a handle for $25. If you're a bourbon completist and you really like Jim Beam, maybe you pick it up for the novelty? What was the other one that they had though? You said there was a four year? It was a 15 year, which sold out immediately, of course. It was pretty good. I found it to be over wooded. How much was that? A 170, I think. Who is James B. Beam? Is that Jim Beam? Sure. The composite character based on other whiskey mascots? No, there's a whole bunch of different beams. I'm sure half of them named Jim at one point. Many of whom don't work at Jim Beam. I thought that was interesting with the bourbon industry. Oh, yeah. They would go work at other distilleries. Craig Beam started Limestone Vance. That's where Yellowstone is coming from. OK, so going around next is number 17, and this is Indri Trini, which is Indri single malt. It's an Indian single malt, Trini. That's the three wood. This is from a small village in the foothills of the Himalayas, so farther north, aged in three different types of barrels. First Phil bourbon, X French wine, and PX sherry. And this is 92 proof. I'm sorry. What's the grain, Bill? This is a single malt, 100% malted barley. 100% malted barley. It has like a burnt caramel orange peel thing. I get that. There's some like peach in there too, though. PX sherry barrels, I think, are really coming through. It reminded me of like jaggery sugar, like raisins, dates. This is a really nice whiskey, actually. It's out of my wheelhouse. I don't really know where to place it. I mean, it's not like, it's more cognac-like than scotch usually is. You know what I mean? It smells really fruity. Yeah, more Irish than scotch. More Irish? This reminds me of like Spanish brandies. Interesting. I mean, when I think of, and I may be completely wrong, of Indian single malts, I think scotch knockoff, right? Well, that's what this is, but like most of them are super tropical in character like this. Like they tend to have pineapple and citrus and white peach and nectarine and that kind of thing. Yeah. This is pretty fruity. It's awesome. It also, it seems pretty spirited on the front, but then on the finish, it's really graceful. Yeah. It's $60. This is $60? This is a nice whiskey for $60. This is $60. That's $80. Yeah. The people in India don't, I guess, understand the novelty of the potential for them. They're just trying to sell goods. This is a really nice whiskey. Yeah. It's pretty darn good. It's a thinker. This is the first time I've tasted it in the interest of full disclosure. Top 20 for the year. I could see a case being made. I bet people really liked it at Whisky Advocate because it's so different. I mean, we've already said how many different liqueurs it made us think of. So there's a lot going on here. In a big tasting, the standouts are usually the ones you remember versus all the samey stuff. But I'd also have to assume that they get, like Mr. Brophy here, the opportunity to taste a pretty broad range of stuff too. But yeah, also they might just be trying to sprinkle the mentions around a little more, around the world, around the globe. But it's definitely a solid whiskey. It's soft on the palate and very complex, very layered. Nice whiskey. Nice whiskey. This would be great to serve with dessert course. I could see this going really well with coconut cream pie, pineapple upside down cake. So this might just be my Indian brain thinking, but I'm immediately like Indian rice pudding sprang to mind with this. One of the best desserts ever made. It's really good. Indian rice pudding. It's super good. I mean, I've had plenty of Greek restaurant rice puddings. Never had Indian rice pudding though. It's awesome. Really? Sometimes there's raisins. I like it when it's not raisin. Yeah, I totally don't dig the raisins in rice pudding. What are you talking about? That's one of the best parts of rice pudding. It's like a mushy surprise. It gives you- Mushy surprise. No, thank you. It's like nuts in ice cream. Yeah. It is just like nuts in ice cream. That's not the experience you're there for. Rice pudding is mushy. It gives you the only chewy, pleasant texture amongst the mush. No, my point is it's totally unpleasant. Yeah. We just want to be able to swallow it without chewing. It's like if they had some pudding. It's the perfect retirement home dessert. No effort food. I know all the personalities on this podcast, but I'm still marveling at the fact that we can debate rice pudding. Honestly. It's pretty great. No one in this room should be shocked that the Fruit King wants raisins in his rice pudding. I'm Team Roger on this one. Can I get back to the whisky? The what now? No. We're done with the whisky. We're on to rice pudding. Yeah. Well, one thing I'm starting to notice, I should be trying to separate the Indian part of this from the whisky part. But you have to separate them. It smells like ghee to me, like butter. Really? Yeah. I wouldn't be able to tell you the difference in the scent of butter or ghee. Well, ghee is clarified. No milk salts left, but also cooked a long time, so it develops a little richer. Like creaminess, right? Yeah. Nuttier kind of aroma. I think that that's the power of suggestion that's working in your brain. It's connecting neurons. I don't know. I smell butter. I'm not saying you're not smelling butter. Well, I agree. Maybe the terminology I'm using is just suggestibility, but it's buttery. Okay, moving on. That was 20 through 17. Number 16 was Bushmills 12-year-old. We are sold out of that. We had it at a, there might, it might be at one store or something. Bushmills, it was a limited release. I will say aged Bushmills, I generally prefer to age Jameson. I think they're a little richer in character, probably because they contain a higher malt content. Bushmills only makes malt whiskey. So all the Bushmills actually include grain whiskey that they get from Jameson in them. Because they are still blended Irish whiskeys. But they only make malt whiskey at Bushmills. Worth mentioning. All right, number 15 was Bardstown Bourbon Company Collaboration Series Plantation Rum Cask. Wow. Did you try that? I had, I've never tried it. Jeff probably had a sample in this office, and then you probably did try it at one point. I think I did. It's $175. It is still in stock in maybe like 10 or 12 Binny's locations. Check it, check it your local Binny's. It's supposed to be pretty good. I also want to shout out to their Bourbon County finished one. It was amazing. So good. So good. So good. We were tasting that here not that long ago, right? Yeah. Yeah. Number 14 is Blackened Rye the Lightning. We did taste this when we had Rob Dietrich on the podcast and tasted some other blackened stuff. It is $75. Stock is dwindling quickly on that. We have it in maybe half a dozen stores or something. Rye. Rye the Lightning. Blackened Rye the Lightning. All right. Number 13 is Miyagikyo Peeted. So Miyagikyo is one of the two single malt distilleries owned by the Nika Whisky Company. They have Yoichi and Miyagikyo. Generally, Miyagikyo is not peeted. So kind of cool. One off release there. They had it listed at $275 on the Whisky Advocate website. We have not seen that. I do not know if we will get that. So no clue on that. Number 12 was Tom and Towel Cigar Malt Oloroso Sherry Cask Finish. We have not seen that either. So onto something we can taste. Number 11 is Sweeten's Cove, Knesset. Going to have to assume that Knesset references the mix of Kentucky and Tennessee. Did we try this one already? Boy, they can't fool you. This is your NASCAR driver and a professional quarterback got together. It's Peyton Manning and Andy Roddick and who knows who else. Who's Andy Roddick? He's a professional wrestler, right? No. Not quite. Pretty famous tennis player. Okay. Sweeten's Cove debuted a couple of years ago, and Sweeten's Cove bourbon is I want to say around $170 or $180. It's pretty expensive. Sweeten's Cove itself is a apparently pretty bougie exclusive country club somewhere in Tennessee, and so they've a couple of their richest members, most famous members made their own bourbon. This is their more reasonable release. This is on the shelf for $60. It's a blend of Tennessee sourced bourbons and Kentucky sourced bourbons, thus the name Knesset. Is it coming to 375 or is this just a sample? No, it's just a sample bottle. It's the second time we've tried this on the show. What was the other time we tried this? Why would we have tried it before? I think we did. I think we did. I'm pretty sure we did. Well, why would we have? New products run down maybe? Yeah, that was the new product show. I don't remember liking it much then. I don't remember you saying it was a top 20 whiskey of the year for you. This is fine. It's definitely not a top 20 whiskey of the year. This might be one of those cases where having the bottle open for a while might have actually improved the bourbon. There's nothing wrong with this. This is a good bourbon. But I'm just saying I think when we first tried it, we were very unimpressed. You got a lot of bourbon options at 60 bucks these days. Very nice bourbon, not top 20. It's pretty sweet. It is. Tennessee bourbon tends to be a little sweeter. Very sweet up front. Like breakfast cereal sweet. It's kind of weird. It's kind of disjointed. I don't know if I said this the last time, but it reminds me of corn flakes with honey on it. Yeah, that's exactly what I was thinking, like cereal. Yeah, it's not very complex. It's a little simple. I don't hate it though. I would drink it. Honey no. Cheerio. I like it better than James and CK. I'm literally still just going to hate on the hardness. It's great. Yeah. How much more do I like it than that? A little bit. Good radio. It's not bad though. I agree. I like it better today than I did the last time. This is fine. Basically, if you're a Frosted Flakes fan, you're going to think this is great. Okay, Tony. Roger just narrows in on the one tasty note that he gets on all of this and just hammers it. All right. Moving on. Now it gets good, right? Top 10. Top 10. Here we are. Number 10 is Nelson Brothers Reserve Bourbon. Is this made by Ricky Nelson's kids with those long, beautiful blonde locks? If Ricky Nelson's kids are Charlie and Andy Nelson, then yes. If not, then no. This story is kind of an interesting one. I remember when they first came to market. Belmead? Yep. This is Belmead Reserve with a new name and a new label. So they're doing all their own distilling and have been for a while, right? No. Oh. So the Nelson Brothers Sour Mashed Tennessee Whisky that we have, or Nelson's Greenbrier Tennessee Whisky is their own distillate. The Nelson Brothers Bourbons are still sourced. So this is Tennessee, Kentucky, and Indiana sourced according to Whisky Advocate. They do not list it on their label here on this bottle. This bourbon smells like bourbon. It's 107.8 proof. It has traditionally been older stuff. It's a blend of straight bourbons. This has always been a pretty good bottle around 60 bucks. We are currently at $60 on this. What distillery gives you the minty note? I bet there's some four roses or- Oh, is it an MGP? Yeah, for sure. Because there's a minty note on top of the cherries and butterscotch, and it's brighter butterscotch than caramel. That's pretty tasty. It leans a little woody in the finish. A little woody for my taste. Kind of reminds me of a mint julep. It's got that sweetness, the mintiness, a little bit of spice. I agree. Worth noting, not nearly as sugary though. But it does have this tip of your tongue like crystal and sugar feel. I do like that and toasted vanilla on the finish. Like the top of a creme brulee. Yeah, it's very sweet up front in my opinion. It's the spiciest one so far to me. A little tingling on my tongue. It's high proof I believe so. I was going to say that the alcohol stands out a little bit. 107.8. No, the Hardin Creek, your favorite Hardin's Creek was 108. This is definitely more spirited than that one. Yeah, and sweet too. People who are always chasing the Weller 107 might dig this. Yeah, for sure. I mean Weller's sweet and corn forward. Yeah. So is this. You smell like sausage spices, like meat spices, like garlic and peppercorns. Yeah, maybe sweet paprika. Sweet paprika? Are you going crazy? I don't think so. It's almost summer sausage-y. Nutmeg maybe? Nutmeg isn't a lot of sausages. Yeah. You have a good summer sausage. I mean, if we were nailing down a sausage, it would be summer sausage. I've never had beef summer sausage, but as a child, I had a lot of. Delicious. Deer. Also delicious. Number nine is Brook Lottie, eight-year-old Isla Barley, 2013 vintage. We are still on the 2012 vintage in this market. Supposedly, this is coming and has not arrived yet. It's probably going to be around $75, $80 when it shows up. Of note with Brook Lotties, these are always bottled at 100 proof. They're non-chill filtered. Isla is a terrible place to grow barley. Yields are very small, but the concentration of flavor tends to be elevated. They work with several different local farmers, I want to say in the neighborhood of like nine or 12 or something, that specifically grow different strains of barley for them each year. It's always a cool thing. I like how connected that distillery is to the agriculture behind the industry. Should be cool. That is very cool. My question is because Brook Lottie is one of the strange Islay distilleries that doesn't often use a lot of peat or any at all. Is it peated? It is unpeated. If it comes from Brook Lottie distillery and it says Brook Lottie, it's unpeated. If it says Port Charlotte, it's heavily peated. There we go. You will still get a bit of peatiness to it. Part of that, people consider the water table peaty and stuff because everything gets filtered through peat. That Port Charlotte tends pretty killer. Oh, yeah. Do they make octomore? Yes. Does the octomore stay Port Charlotte? Probably somewhere, but maybe not. Octomore also comes from there. Octomore also comes there. It's the peatiest thing. The peatiest. Yeah. They like, the squirrel beer and the Sink the Bismarck, they did that peat arms race with a hard bag. And Laphroaig just stood back and went, whatever, we're Laphroaig. Number eight is Limavadi Irish Whisky, Limavadi Single Malt Whisky. It is a single malt Irish whiskey. They get the award for most obnoxious sales slide presented to me this calendar year. Their slide called out the fact that this is, quote, the Blanton's of Irish whiskey. Oh, no. This is Northern Ireland, right? Simply because it's an exclusively single barrel product. Come on. Just because it's a single barrel whiskey, it is therefore the Blanton's of Irish whiskey. Also, it has this ludicrous, bulbous. What is that bulbous thing? It's got it in spilling. It's got this terrible bottle. So, this is great, great idea, guys. You can't get the pour from this bottle. It's impossible to pour. This brand is owned by Whistle Pig or connected to Whistle Pig in some way. So, it's fine. So, get ready to pay out the pig's nose. No, actually not. This is on the shelf for 50 bucks. So, compared to the rest of the Irish category, it's a little high, but we certainly have more expensive Irish whiskeys. They gave us a presentation calling it the Blanton's of Irish Whiskey, and then they immediately wanted us to start buying single barrels. We said, well, let's wait and see if we can actually sell the regular stuff first. So, it is 100% Irish barley, triple distilled, and it was matured in bourbon barrels and PX sherry casks. So, why it's a single barrel, how they get that, I'm not sure. They've rebuilt a barrel of staves from different things. Well, no, I'm sorry. They're using the PX butts then because this is barrel number 80 and is bottle number 449 of 846. So, if you're going to take a 500-liter butt and water down to 92 proof, 46% alcohol, which this is, yeah, you're going to get about 850 bottles if it's a relatively youngish single malt. Whisky Math Podcast. Yes. This is Northern Ireland, right? No, I doubt it. If it's triple distilled malt, I mean, it could be, but there's so many, there's like 40-something distilleries in Ireland now, and they all make single malt. Well, okay. It smells like lemonade. The Finnish is like- Yeah, it's very Irish. Old Lady Strawberry Candy on the Finnish. Am I crazy? Is that two things? We call that Roger Candy on this one. And Strawberry Candy. The ones that have the gooey center. It's very lemony, lemon oil on the front. It's bright and citric. But it's got some richer, darker notes on the Finnish. I'm getting a lot of plum and burnt sugar, tiny, tiny hint of molasses. Yeah. It's really well balanced. This is a nice whiskey. It really is. The plum combined with the molasses, that is probably the same thing that Jenna is describing as strawberry juice. Chris, you know what? You're right. It is Northern Ireland. I recall reading about it on their website now. Because is the town Limavadi? Yeah, I think so. Yeah. It's in Northern Ireland. This guy connected to it is family supposedly hundreds of years ago distilled in this town or something. I'm finding it's just made at Bushmills. Yeah. It's delicious, but it is remarkably sweet, I think, for Irish whiskey. It is. Most Irish whiskey is pretty sweet, too. I don't know. This seems like sweet and Irish whiskey is always fruity to me. You said PX. PX cask. PX cask. Yeah. That's going to sweeten it up good. Right. But I definitely got that strawberry candy going on for sure. Maybe they wanted to equate it with Blanton's because they put the PX Sherries giving it sweetness so it makes you thinking of a bourbon. Maybe because they just want to ride the coattails of the most requested whiskey on the planet. Yeah. I mean, I definitely think it's sweet too. That's anytime anybody introduces a new anything that's not like a high-end spirit to Jeff, they say, this is the Tito's of domestic rum. Yeah. I bet it is the Tito's. I would say- Jenna, by old lady strawberry candy, you mean the ones with the little colored foils that look like strawberries? Yes. I remember those. Yes, with the lily center. They're hard on the outside and soft in the middle. You can still get them at dollar stores occasionally. I don't need to. I buy them. I mean, why wouldn't you? They're delicious. Yeah, it's definitely very fruity on the finish. I get a pineapple-y. Yeah. Classic Irish whiskey pineapple character. Cooked pineapple. Yeah. Classic Irish whiskey note. It's a little weightier than some. Yeah. Yeah. I think part of that is that it's non-show filtered and it's a single malt. So 92 proof single malt is going to just have more weight on the palate than a blended Irish whiskey that's just going to be thinned out with some grain. What's the proof? It's kind of hot. 92. 46% alcohol. It's interesting. I think for 50 bucks, it's a pretty good whiskey. 50 bucks? Yeah. That's great. Yeah, it is great. Top 20 of the year, I think is a bit of a stretch, certainly in the top number eight of the year. We've probably had 10 better things this year. Yeah, I would dispute that for sure. Nice whiskey though. But it's nice. Yeah. There's even cocoa on the finish, on the way back finish. On the way back. It's pretty good. It's a delightful little irish. Plus it has a glass stopper. Yeah. Yeah, that's obnoxious. The bottle and the stopper. The bottle and the stopper are both pretty bad. Yeah. I did also, just like I watched Roger do, I poured it and it just glopped off the side of that big bulbous head that it has. Moving on. Number seven was Blue Note Juke Joint Uncut. Blue Note's a source bourbon brand. They are not available here. Number six was Middleton 2022 Vintage. Middleton, of course, the crown jewel of what used to be called Irish Distillers. Now the Middleton Distillery, where they make Jameson, Red Breast, etc. They traditionally bottle Middleton once a year in the spring. And then the release lasts until it lasts. Middleton 2022, we got a second wave of right before the end of the calendar year. So there's a chance you might still be able to find it at a Binny's near you. It's around 250 bucks, usually, maybe 220, something like that. Middleton 2023 Vintage should be bottled this spring. Middleton is usually pretty bomb, especially if you're looking to give people an impressive gift. Comes in, you know, it's really nice wooden box and. Yeah, I agree with that. Middleton is great. Great. If you want to, like, I used to recommend Middleton a lot for people who want to buy like a bottle of Johnny Blue, just because of the prestige. Like if you're looking for something that's really nice, nice presentation, a really gentle, smooth, as people always like to say, whiskey, Middleton's pretty phenomenal. Yeah, it is. All right, so number five is Westward Cask Strength Whisky. Westward is an American single malt made in Oregon. Their cast strength is a limited release. It's 125 proof. We have this on the shelf for $100. Not in a lot of stores though, we maybe got like 12 cases or something like that. Very American single malt in character. It's got that kind of fudgy, fruity, like chocolatey, dark fruity character. I was going to say like chocolate coffee-ish. Yeah. It is really roasty and like bitter grainy on the palate. I'm smelling a lot of grain on the nose too. Yeah, there's no doubt about that. And it's like rye grain or something like that, one of the dark. It reminds me of brewing malts. That's why I feel like I'd be really surprised if it was just one. I find this somewhat acrid. I don't know if I'd go that far, but like fudgy, husky. I mean, it's way up there in alcohol. I think a little water might work here. It is hot. You want to pass that bottle? It's very, I think what maybe you're calling acrid is very like a coffee-ish finish to me. Yeah, that's what I'm getting. Strong coffee on the finish. Yeah, that stood out to me immediately. Tastes like dank weed. It does kind of taste like bong water. Bong water. Yeah, bong water. Try it with water. It really kicks up the dank weedness. The dank weedness. Can I try a little? Yeah, that's interesting. I really like it though. I just want you guys to know that I really like it. Yeah, I think this is a Greg Whiskey for sure. High proof. Bitter. Yeah, I think in a lot of parameters, it's a little over the top. Dark and roasty. People that are into American... Like this is what a lot of American craft whiskey is about, is grain versus barrel. And this is a lot of big grain carrying. American Single Malt is a newly minted category for the TTB now. We're going to see a bigger push with American Single Malt. This is a pretty good one. Top 10 Whiskey of the Year. I'm not sure. But I don't find it offensive, but I don't love it. Actually, this is number five. Top five of the year. Get out of here with that. Oh, yeah. Not top five. I do like it though. I think it's really interesting. Yeah. I mean, somebody gave me a glass of this. I would drink it. But top five of the year. Coffee and chocolate for sure. Oh, yeah. Coffee, chocolate, chocolate. All of that. And interestingly, I added water and it seems to have brought out a lot of woody tannin in it. This would be really interesting with drying on the plate. Like some orange liqueur in it maybe, like make a cocktail. I don't know if I want to add the sweetness full on of an old-fashioned, but cherry and orange would be really cool with this since it's so chocolatey. I like the idea of orange. Something on the drier side though, because this already has sweetness like the full on dry cure. Black Manhattan with a lot of that Regan's orange bitters. It would be pretty sweet. Because then it would be like a chocolate orange that Pat doesn't like, but it would be trash candy. Moving on. Number four is Dewar's 12-year-old. What the f***? What? Doesn't this existed for 20 years? This is a new version of Dewar's 12-year-old. New and improved. So now they are calling it double-age, which is a process that they claim they've always done, so I'm not sure what's new about this. So, double-age means they take all their component whiskeys are aged in wood, and then they blend it, and instead of just bottling it, they take the blend and they put it back in wood for some period of time. What kind of wood? This is a first-fill bourbon barrel. Do you think they've pulled it back on peated components? Because it doesn't seem as smoky as I would recall. I don't think Dewar's has been particularly smoky for quite a while. Okay. My memory is long. Yeah. Way to drink, Lips. Yeah. I was just remarking on the Darth Vader sniffing. I will say Dewar's 12 has always been a gem of affordability. Delivers a lot. That's what I was just going to say. This is a great option for people that are getting into scotch and they're building their scotch palette, and it proves that you can have a really nice scotch that's a blend. It's a good way to not be snobby. This is an awesome whiskey for $26. Is this $26? It's a $26 whiskey. It's number four. It's truly 12 years old. It's number four. It's truly 12 years old and it's $26. The law in Scotland is every single thing in that bottle has to be at least 12 years old if you're going to put 12 years old. I'm going to be honest, if you add all of that shit up, it might deserve that. This is like the deal of the store. It's really good and it's cheap. Yeah. The jump up in quality from Dewar's White Label to their 12 and 15 year old has always been huge. The Dewar's 12 year old has always been great. Again, not so much a hidden gem, but those in the know know that it's worth a few extra bucks versus White Label. This is really fantastic. I think the finishing period or the double aging period, whatever you're going to call it, in the first Phil Berbin Barrel said, has added a lot of depth and character to this. There's some spice and some vanilla that really beef it up a bit versus your run-of-the-mill blended scotch. I would just say it's just deliciously drinkable. Deliciously drinkable. It's dangerous. It's right. Yeah, exactly. It's right there. You could just drink a whole glass of this without even thinking about it. It's also really well-rounded. It's pretty complex, but nothing immediately juts out. Like a really good well-made pie with a cocoa crust, and then a fruit layer, and then a cream layer. Everything is in there, but it's all one thing. Agreed. It's impeccably balanced. It's easy to drink. Master Blender Stephanie McCloud does a great job with pure stuff. Way to go, McCloud. I think it's one of those things that's sometimes frustrating when you talk to customers, and they're unwilling to appreciate that a distillery can make a portfolio of offerings. If anything, you should be happy if they're willing to offer things that are more affordable and are quality versus somebody when they just think of them like, oh, well, think of Buffalo Trace, for example. They have whiskies that were presented or were at really affordable prices, and then they have the coveted releases that are much more expensive. But they're still putting out benchmark at $12. So, I think Dewar is one of those situations where so many people that are into Scotch or curious about Scotch would just think, oh, White Label is the kind of Scotch you buy in a handle for really cheap, and they just wouldn't even give this a chance. And especially the way Scotch is made where it's a blend of so many different products, that's just so silly to think of that a company name wouldn't have an exceptional offering to add, like Chivas is another good example. Some of the high-end Chivas, they're unbelievable. But people can be snobby about it and be like, oh, Chivas is just this entry level whatever, single malt. Also, I want to point out the fact that we're talking about the best whiskies of the year, and this is going to be available every day for the next 10 years. For $26. For $26. Let go of your whiskey ego. So this wasn't supposed to be in the stores yet. The local distributor was waiting until they ran out of the old release first, and then it got this award, and they wanted to, of course, then immediately cram it into as many stores as possible. So your local Binny's might still have both iterations of the Dewar's 12 year old, although the old one is quickly running out and being replaced by this one. Everybody should freaking buy this. There's no excuse not to have this on your shelf at home, because it's delicious. It's great on its own. I imagine it would be fantastic in cocktails. What is the downside to having this at home? I think I'm going to buy a bottle of this. I think I'm going to buy a bottle of this. Yeah. Pretty damn good. All right, moving on. Number three. Number three is Barrel Vantage from Barrel Craft Spirits, Greg's favorite. B-A-R-R-R-E-L-L-E. B-A-R-R-E-L-L Vantage. This is a blend of straight bourbon whiskeys finished in Mizunara, French and toasted American oak. It is 115.88 proof. They're really going wacky on the Mizunara these days. Well, this is their first one with Mizunara, but this is- I mean industry at large. Yeah, for sure. This is kind of riffing in that same series as the Barrel Seagrass, which we all tasted and loved so much, and the Barrel Armida, which has a different combination of woods in there. So pretty cool. Well, Mizunara can be an easy cash grab because Japanese whisky has gotten so desirable and so expensive. Mizunara, though, does produce some pretty unique flavors. There's a lot of floral spice kind of going on to it. Toasted American Oak, of course, is homie's favorite lactone, a lot of toasted coconut and vanilla, and then French Oak tends to be a kind of balance of spice and vanilla, I would say. Ooh, this is pretty damn good. I have not tasted this yet. I'm really excited to try this. It's un-Google-able. Yep. The label is kind of a weird Tron meets the traveling circus. Yeah. Because it has barely there orange stripes. So this is Indiana, Tennessee and Kentucky bourbons blended, and then finishing in these casks. This is pretty excellent. This is on the shelf for $79.99. It's pretty good. Yeah. It's peachy. There's a lot going on here. I mean, I also think this... What's the proof on this again? 115.88. So this is pretty amazingly easy to drink at that proof. I think you could play around with this with different water additions slash a big ice cube that melts slower. You coax even more out of this, but the level of complexity here is pretty tremendous. I mean, there's cherry, vanilla, citrus. I think it speaks to blending, honestly. You don't get complexity like this unless you're working with a lot of different components. Yeah. It's pretty solid. Rarely you do. This is the most impressive thing I think so far. I would also throw in, I feel like there's a mineral aspect to it, a limestone-y aspect to it. Coupled with all that rich fruit is really nice. Silky. My teeth are slippery. It's definitely, maybe part of it too is this isn't as sweet as so many of the ones we've tried. I agree. It's almost refreshing somehow even though it's such high proof. How weird is that, that Irish whiskeys are coming off as sweeter than this? Yeah. You know? True. What? Very. But I agree. It's dry. This is really good. How available is this? This is available everywhere. This is an everyday item. Utah, give me two. Omaha. Omaha. Top 20 for Barrel Craft Vantage. Yes. Yeah. I think so. I think it even deserves top five for sure. Well, it's there. Their stuff has always been really great. We've been banging that drum for quite a while. Every time there's a barrel release, you should just pick it up. They're always 80 or $100 and never disappointing. They are always worth the money. Silly name. Yep, silly name though. They could have just named it Whisky Bourbon. All right, moving along. Number two Whiskey of the Year is Red Breast Kentucky Oak Edition. This was a 101 proof Red Breast, was on the shelf for about $100. This is long sold out. This was like a one time allocation thing. Kentucky Oak Edition just means it's bourbon barrel aged. Or bourbon barrel finished or something, because traditionally red breast is a combination of bourbon and sherry casks. So yeah. That was interesting. Yeah, I'm sure it was. I'm sure it was very good. I've never had a bad red breast, that's for sure. Yeah, and without having the sherry, it's going to be more raw and elemental and more of what it is. It may have still had the sherry and just been finished in bourbon. Red breast is delightful. Yeah, that's the bomb. I think they always use Lestow too, which is odd. Yeah. I think maybe that was double Lestow or something. It's Virgin Oak Cask Finished is what it was. Oh, wow, that's different. Yeah. Red Breast for this series is going to be working with different forestry partners to try to highlight American Oak with this. We'll see. We'll see how available this becomes. It was called what again? I'm sorry, Kentucky? Kentucky Oak Edition. That's pretty funny that it was called Kentucky and it's not Bourbon Barrel. Well, I mean, the oak was from Kentucky. All right. Number one. Number one. Jack Daniel's Bonded Tennessee Whisky. Who would have thunk it? We had this already. We had it with Lexi. Yeah. Yes, we did. This is of note a 700 ml bottle. Bonded is of course, it's 100 proof. Wait, it's 700 ml? Yeah, 700 ml. Okay. Yeah, what a cash grab. Even the American distiller are going for that. Oh yeah. We got plenty of American distiller's bottle in 700s now. It sucks. This is on the shelf for $37 for the Binny's that still have it. Some Binny's have liters for $60 or something. That was once it got named Whisky of the Year, there was a bit of a run on it. So we secured all the inventory we could, but it is running out. Damn it. I want the fifth back. Come on. Yeah. Of note, this came out over the summer to not a ton of fanfare with another Jack Daniel's release. We had Lexion talked about it. It was the Triple Mash. It was the Bonded and Triple Mash. The Triple Mash was a lot better. So this for Whisky of the Year I thought was a bit of an odd choice. It was definitely more interesting. I think for your normal Jack drinker, the Triple Mash is more of a departure from the Jack flavor profile, whereas this is... This is bubble gum banana runts. This is Jack Daniel's Through and Through. Holy cow. That's what you want from them. Minds me, it tops baseball cards. But is that what you want from the number one Whisky of the Year? Barrelcraft Spirits has words because, wow, was that better than this. This is not bad. It's important to say, I'm not a hater of Jack Daniel's. I appreciate what they do. I love the Jack Daniel's Single Barrel. Jack Daniel's Barrel Proof Single Barrels are excellent. Jack Daniel's Black Label is pretty boring, I think. It's been watered down over the years. Yeah, now that it's neutered. Yeah. This is nice that it's Jack Daniel's Black Label at 100 proof. This is great. But holy cow, you are not wrong. It is candy. It is, it is banana candy. We'll take the opportunity to mention that banana candy is actually flavored after the Gros Michel, not the Cavendish. 100% true. The more banana of the bananas. I believe with this too, it approaches the barrel selection more like single barrel, right? It's things with higher loss, so it's a little more concentrated flavor. Because that was my beef was the price point was pretty high, considering Jack Daniel's is kind of- Well, usually the single barrel is taken from the lower most central most areas of the warehouse, so they have less loss. It's usually pretty high proof, though. All Jack gets pretty baked, I would say, but- Well, either way, I thought the part of the idea of why you have to pay more for this is that it's not just a hundred proof regular Jack Daniel's. It's like some thought goes into the barrel selection. Oh, for sure. They're blending this thoughtfully, but- I don't know. I think they must be in part be awarding this. In selecting the whiskeys for the final blend, the search was on throughout the warehouse for whiskeys with boldness and depth of color. Bold. Minimum four years, bottle. Yeah, of course, bottle and bottle. Yeah. I think that what Walt Whiskey Advocate must be emphasizing here is that it's refreshing to see Brown Foreman slash Jack Daniel's trying some more experiments and offering a broader range to the Jack Daniel's family. Because for so long, it was like Jack, Gentlemen Jack, Single Barrel, Molts and Molts. Yeah, and we've seen a ton. And we've seen this triple match. We've seen this. We saw the Single Malt. Our most recent Jack Daniel's release was actually a Single Malt, which is nuts. And they're going to add a Single Malt to their permanent line up here. I think this year or next year, like that limited release Single Malt is just a taste of what's to come. They started laying down a lot of Single Malt years ago. They've only just begun. Well, that's number one. Number one. And it tastes like Jack. And it tastes like Jack distilled. All right. Whisky Advocate top 20. Pretty solid this year. Pretty, pretty solid. We've got a couple bones to pick, but there are some true gems in there. We really love that Dewar's for $26. Holy cow. Holy cow. Barrelcraft Vantage was great. There's a lot of good ones here. There's some really good stuff here, but there are some clinkers for sure. For sure, but there always are. And I do appreciate the fact that it's a top 20 list now instead of a top 10, because there were some clunkers when it was a top 10. It's easier to spread those out a bit, and we got some more hits with a top 20. We'll try it again next year. All right? Cool. Cool. Thank you, Pat. Yeah, no problem. Listeners, thanks for hanging out with us. I know this was a bit of a long one. If you appreciate weird alcohol content like this, do us a favor, tell your friends about the show. If you want to be extra generous, leave us a review on the podcast platform that you use. We'll see you again next week with something interesting. I'm Pat. I'm Jonah. I'm Chris. I'm Roger. I'm Greg. Keep tasting. Hey, it's Barrel to Bottle, back with ya. Hey! Barrel to Bottle here!

So, we were in the middle of tasting Whiskey Advocate's Top 20 Whiskies of 2020. 2022. And then Pat pulled a couple of surprises out, including his favorite whiskey. One of, I mean, I said what my pick of the year was in the Picks of the Year episode, but if I was throwing some big unobtainium, cool whiskey out to be in the top whiskies of the year list, this is what I would have brought. One that you would have put on the list. Yeah. And more surprises. It's shocking. Stick around and enjoy this bonus episode. It's in a whiskey bottle. You guys want to taste what my number one whiskey of the year would have been? Yes. Didn't we already? Yeah, kind of. What I'm calling, if I was Mr. Whiskey Advocate, and a bunch of big, chubby things were being submitted for review. I figured it would be fun to taste something that I think is up there for whiskey of the year for me this past year. I know we did our picks and they're great. This was worth mentioning. You can't get it anymore. But this is Remus Gatsby Reserve. It's a 15-year-old limited release from Remus from MGP, Ross and Squibb, whatever the hell the distillery is going to call itself now. Ross and Squibb? That's the name of the distillery now, Ross and Squibb. Sounds like a pharmaceutical. Sounds like an ink manufacturer. I know, but they only call it Ross and Squibb in some contexts and not others. It's goofy. What's the proof on that thing? I don't know, but they really nailed the Art Deco package in there. They killed it with Art Deco packaging. 97.8 proof. So this is a 15-year-old bourbon, 97.8 proof. When I first tried this, I tried it side by side with the Repeal Reserve 6. And you know I'm a big defender of the Repeal Reserve series every year is a great buy. And this just blew the Repeal Reserve out of the water side by side. I think this is just fantastic. It's a 15-year-old bourbon, right? Yeah, but Repeal Reserve is like 12 years. I mean, it's not that different. It's 12 and like 14 year. This is just so thick and chewy. This is awesome. It's such an awesome bourbon. So I figured why not try this too. There's something to this. Like, I don't know. It tastes old school. I don't know how to describe it. It's woody. It's thick and chewy. It is thick. It is so thick though. And like, and it might not seem that way, but again, trying it side by side with a hundred proof Repeal Reserve, which is generally pretty full bodied. This was notably thicker. Yeah, I mean, you can feel that wood tannin all over your palate, too, like cheeks, everywhere. Yep. It balances out the sweetness perfectly. It's a phenomenal bourbon. Listeners, if you get a chance to try this, try it. First time I tried it was actually at a bar near my house before I was able to get a bottle. Remus Gatsby Reserve, 15-year-old, straight bourbon whiskey, not on the list. Thank you for sharing. You're welcome. Tremendous, tremendous whiskey. Yeah, one more. What is this? What is this subtenium retail for? This was, I want to say, $260, $270. Well, thanks for bringing it. It was pretty tremendous. And the packaging is unbelievably beautiful. Weighty, heavy. Substantial. Substantial. Murder weapon-esque. I find it kind of irritating, right? Of course I do. Of course you do. It's a lot. But you're really gonna like this. It's literally commemorating Gatsby, though. I mean, it should be a lot. Yeah. You know, just to give us a little palate cleanse before our next recording, I figured I'd bring something cool that I don't know what this is. This is a 200 ml bottle of Woodford Reserve. It looks like Woodford Reserve. This has been sitting on my desk for a few years. Liquor buyer Jeff was at my desk last week waiting for Brett before they drove and met Joe and I down in Kentucky. And so Jeff just started trying all the little bottles that are all over my desk. And he called me and told me about this, and he asked me what it was. I have no recollection of what this is, but it is a memorable taste. So I'd like everybody to taste this. Memorable. Very memorable. So there's not a whole lot left, but so make sure everybody gets some. It's a trap. That's a poor Akbar, by the way. It's a trap. It's a trap. Jiggle the jowls while you're doing that. If this tastes like malort, I'm going to be very upset. I actually had a shot of malort last night. It looks like whiskey. So, Jeff was trying to figure out what it is. It has a memorable taste and then it looks like whiskey. I mean, there's so many key clues here. Wait, just wait for it. This smells ridiculous. Come on, shut up. I don't even have my glass yet. This is not whiskey. Don't spoil it. Of course, it's not whiskey. I'm just saying it looks like whiskey. It looks like wood fruit. Now, the moral of the story here is, I don't remember what this is, but I distinctly remember my thought process pouring this in that bottle. I poured it in that bottle left on my desk, and it was such a memorable taste. I said to myself, there is no way in hell I'm ever going to forget what this is. I don't need to write this down on the label anywhere, and I have no recollection what it is. It's pineapple rum. It's fascinating. It's rum? Rum. It's got to be rum. Wait till you taste it. Oh, it's minty too. What is this? All right, taste it. It's like all Christmas spices and there's wormwood in it for sure, right? It's all about wormwood. I want Roger to taste it. Oh, Roger, you have to taste this. It tastes nothing like how it smells. Exactly. Nothing like how it smells at all. I really don't want to try this. I don't like things being mystery things. I don't like things being mystery things. I'll tell you what I'm pretty sure it is after you try it. Holy. Tomato. Wow, it just keeps going. Literally, I had a shot of Malort last night and it's paling in comparison to this. I would take Malort over this any day. This is terrific, you guys. It smells like rum. It smells like fruit rum. The weird thing is, the longer it- I knew you'd love this. That's why I wanted to bring it. The longer it rests on your palate, the more intensely bitter it becomes. Is this something you brought back from Italy that you were told? It's not. It's not available to sell, sir. Try it, please, so I can tell you what I think it is. Maybe it's all bonus content at some point. Grapefruit, the longer it sits, it dries out. Yeah, I mean, it just gets more and more bitter and intense. Did you try it? He's so mad at you. It's f**king awful. What I think this is, is the wormwood concentrate that they make, that they then water down and add sugar to to make malort. I think it's the pure GNS wormwood maceration is what I think this is. My first smell, I thought this is all wormwood, but f**king the palate is insane. It's so fruity on the nose. I smelled wormwood from the get go. It doesn't smell at all the way it tastes. It smells like wormwood for sure, but it also smells sweet and fruity. Yeah, I agree. But it's not sweet and fruity on the palate. Roger and I both thought it was rum, like pineapple rum. Yeah, it did kind of smell like rum. I knew it. Was that not an interesting thought exercise? Now, good luck that you're going to taste that for an hour and a half. Lordy. It's so ruining my palate. It's so ruining my palate. I figured we're going to take a break and everybody's going to drink some water and stuff and you know what? If I ever put in my two weeks notice, this is going to be part of the reason why. This moment right here. Aren't you glad you got to taste that? No. Yeah, it's so fun. That was fun. I want to rip my tongue out of my mouth. This tastes like bile. You're welcome, guys. It's just bile. It's like you threw up and you got nothing left. I clearly have never had Sue's. But I mean, the finish is never ending. Never ending. Truly an enduring finish. Unfortunately, it will never go away, I think. I'm stuck with this for the rest of my life. Oh my God. Give me anything. Give me that westward. Oh, except Hardin's Creek, of course. Yeah, not that. Man. I knew you'd love that. Here's my enjoyment of it. Here's my enjoyment of it. The nose, the flavor. And then, oh wow, it's still bitter. It's still bitter. And then, oh, it really. Yeah, the poison finish. And now it's going like this again. It never ends. You know in Family Guy, when Peter Griffin skins his knee and he goes, Ah. This is the bad joke of spirits. Yes, yes. That's why I subjected you all to it, because you're my best friends. F*** you, Pat. Oh wow. Hard and streak mouthwash. Wow. I can't wait to make Bava taste that. It's getting bad again. Yeah. It's really unbelievable. It is unbelievable. Aren't you thankful? Aren't you thankful that you have to taste it? No, because I can't taste anything but this now. But it takes you. If you give it 20 minutes, you'll be fine. It literally takes you on a freaking rye that you never think is going to end. It's like a roller coaster. It's making you sick and you're like, we're about to try a whole episode on cocktails called The Cocaine, which is Coke and champagne. This is fine. Fat rails of nutmeg. Greg, the man who loves bitter is making a fan. I knew I would defeat him someday. I'm enjoying the out of this. I can't stop salivating. Yeah, it's great. That's how you know that your gastric juices are going. It's a good tomorrow. Thanks for joining us. My stomach is incredibly settled. This has to be what it would be like to drink cologne. Something that you're just not supposed to ingest. Yes. Okay. See, I knew we'd get good clips out of this. Dude, this is awful. So bad. This is worse than anything you've ever brought here before. It clearly is not something that anyone is intended to drink. So thanks for giving it to us. It's clearly like an industrial flavoring component. Incredibly strong. Listen, all you're doing right now is feeding Roger's narrative that I've maliciously poisoned him. Okay. I think you did. You did. This drink made me hate your face. That's how it did. Roger tastes things professionally. He will get over this. It's not going to kill him and he'll tell stories about it later. Okay. It's everyone's fine. By the way, that beautiful whiskey that you poured us, the number three, it tastes like crap now. You ruined my palate. When we do the Milord cocktail recipe, that's got to be a blending component. We've barely got any left. I've been trying to get them. We should use an eyedropper for that. I've been trying to get them to give me a 750 of it for years now, so I'm sure I can get it. It smells so good. It does smell so good. It tastes so good. It smells like Christmas spices.