Up next in 10
2022 is off to a busy start with new whiskey announcements coming out of the U.S. and Scotland. I'm pouring a glass of Barrell Craft Spirits Armida Bourbon and diving into these upcoming releases, including Rabbit Hole Starlino Rye, Jack Daniel's 12 Year, Ardbeg Hypernova, Ardbeg Fermutation, and Glendronach 50 Year. Questions or comments? Reach me at [email protected] (mailto:[email protected]) Chat about this week's episode on the Bourbon Bytes Whiskey & Gaming Lounge Discord server at http://www.BourbonBytes.com Support the show on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/BourbonBytes Subscribe on YouTube for live streams and more: https://www.YouTube.com/BourbonBytes (https://www.youtube.com/BourbonBytes)
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On today's episode of the Bourbon Bites podcast, I'm reviewing Barrel Armida bourbon and talking
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about five upcoming whiskey releases you don't want to miss. Hello everyone and welcome to the Bourbon Bites podcast. I'm your host Clifton and today I
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honestly didn't think I would be recording a podcast this week. So for those of you that
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are on our Whiskey and Gaming Lounge Discord server, you know I had a bit of a COVID scare
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Starting last weekend, I started not feeling too great. I had a bit of a fever. I had basically
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eight of the 11 symptoms that qualify you for having COVID. So I thought for sure that I had
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finally, after two years of mask wearing, of vaccinating, I thought, you know what, I caught it
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I'm just going to deal with it. So I scheduled a test on Tuesday and I went to the Walgreens to
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get that done. And literally a couple hours ago, I got my test results and they are negative
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So I don't know, you know, I've heard of false negatives. I was very convinced this was COVID
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I'd never had it before, but it just aligned with all the symptoms. I don't know how I got it
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I had everything from the fatigue to the muscle aches to I even had a bit of loss of taste for a little bit, which is a little scary
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That only lasted about 24 hours or so. So I don't know. It may have been COVID
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It may have been a cold. I don't think it was the flu. It didn't seem very severe
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But I was pretty much certain that I wasn't going to be able to do a podcast
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I actually decided this week to do a dry stream for this Thursday night stream, which was on the impression that I would have no taste because I had no taste when I made that decision
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but now it's back and today is the actual day that I'm doing the death nut challenge over on YouTube
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which is a hot spicy nut challenge I'm very very nervous I've been preparing my body I've been
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drinking lots of water thanks to our friend Zopher who has warned me that it's pretty bad
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so yeah make sure to catch the replay of that on YouTube at youtube.com slash bourbon bites
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Hopefully I survived. If not, you know, you may be listening to this post-mortem
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Is that what it's called? I don't know. But anyways, like I said, I didn't have too much time to plan this podcast because I wasn't planning on doing it
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But I do have a new whiskey that I just picked up. It's actually not a new release, but it's new to me whiskey
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And that is Beryl Armida. So I avoided this one for the longest time
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I think mainly because of the fact that it was distilled in Tennessee
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which y'all know a lot of times whiskeys distilled in Tennessee do not you know tickle my uh tickle my
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dickle fancy if you will um I saw this go on sale at my local store at K&L Wine and Spirits it was
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on sale for only 58 dollars which is a significant markdown from what I usually see it for um so you
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know what I figured that I'm going to take a shot and this one is 56.77% ABV um so just over 113 proof
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And if you look at the little hidden little batch number on this, this is batch two
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So no idea when this came out. Like I said, I've never tried this. I've always been a bit too scared
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But when it's on sale, you know, I can't pass up a good deal. I'll give it a try then
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So that's what I'm going to be reviewing today. I'm also going to be sharing some news of some upcoming whiskey releases that I've shared or that have been shared on the Discord server
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Some of these are very, very interesting. There's a mix of American whiskeys and some scotches as well
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So stick around, I'm going to go ahead and get this whiskey poured and we'll get into it
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So according to the label, Barrel Armida is a marriage of bourbon whiskeys
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finished separately in rum, pear brandy, and Sicilian Amaro casks. This limited blend highlights the orchard fruit and exotic spice notes we love most about bourbon
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It's bottled at cast strength so you can appreciate its true flavor. And that's from Joe Beatrice from Barrel Craft Spirits
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y'all know i'm a big fan of barrel craft spirits i've reviewed several of their whiskeys on my
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channel and the podcast uh so i thought it was about dang time i picked up armita and gave it a
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try so y'all know how much i loved barrel seagrass that was one of my favorite i mean honestly spoiler
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it was my favorite whiskey of 2021 and that one had some crazy finishes going on um so this is in
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that same spirit like i said it's pear brandy rum and sicilian amaro casks um i'm not a big fan of
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like Italian bitters. Campari has its place in my like cocktails. I'm a big cocktail guy. Jungle
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Bird is one of my favorite cocktails that uses Campari. But on its own, I don't know. It's not
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my favorite, you know, liqueur. But I thought, you know, this is such an interesting combination
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I'm going to give the Tennessee whiskey a pass. It doesn't necessarily say it's from George Dickel
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So we'll see how this is. Let's go and give this one a nose. As you can tell, I hesitated a bit
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I'm a little nervous, but I'm also very curious. Huh, on the nose, that's so different, which
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I mean, y'all know I love. It kind of smells like, is that like barbecue sauce? What is that
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It's a very, very savory, like saucy kind of note, almost like a dry rub on like some barbecue or
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like barbecue chicken wings. It's a little salty and got some nice like serious, not necessarily
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baking spices but like cooking spices some paprika some cayenne pepper this is really really uh
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interesting on the note it's definitely not what i expected it does kind of smell a little bit like
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a brandy this definitely has a bit of that like twang i guess i would say that comes with like a good brandy there like a little hint of like a um caramel corn or even like a kettle corn note there which is kind of making me think that might be how the george dickle or the tennessee whiskey is expressing itself in here um which is usually the the better
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way to express it at least it you know isn't as minerally i guess as some other releases from that
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distillery but i'm not going to keep judging this based on the nose let's go and give it a taste cheers guys well what is going on whoa that's so weird um so i'm still like not losing that whole
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barbecue note it's almost i've had a jack daniels tennessee tasters that was a mesquite smoked
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barbecue or it was it wasn't barbecue i say i say mesquite smoked barbecue because i'm so used to
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saying that but it had a very like barbecue kind of note to it this is giving me a little bit of
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that obviously not as intense because this isn't mesquite smoked but it has a very rich savory kind
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of aspect to it that I've never experienced on another whiskey other than like I said the mesquite
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smoked ones so once you get past that like little bit of like savory note you can definitely get the
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pear on there there's like some very nice like stewed pear kind of notes here but it's not like
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your traditional like super sweet like lots of like syrup involved it's more of like you spice
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the pears a bit before. But now that like the more I think about the flavors like that, to me
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it's kind of reminding me of like a Jamaican rum. Like I'm getting, they don't say which rum this
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is finished with, but there's a, oh, actually, actually I looked at, looked it up as I was
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as I was saying that it is finished with Jamaican rum. Okay. Yeah. Jamaican rum has a very unique
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characteristic to me. It's a little more like funky, if that makes sense. It's very, I guess
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I mean, you know what, that's savory in a way as well. So I'm wondering if that savory aspect is
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actually coming from the rum casks. And to be honest, Jamaican rum's not one of my favorite
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rums. I've had a couple of them and I don't know. I guess I'm just not familiar enough with that
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flavor profile to appreciate it yet. Every time I've tried them, I've been like, wow, that is
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intense. That is weird. That is funky. So I'm definitely getting a little of that. Not necessarily
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like it's a bad thing on this whiskey. On this whiskey, it's definitely just a finish. So I'm not
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like thrown off and overwhelmed and kind of weirded out by it. But there is some of that funky
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notes so if you are a fan of jamaican rum there's absolutely an impact on that here um i don't
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really get you know i said it smelled a little bit like a brandy i'm definitely getting more of like the actual pear flavor like a like a pear a stewed pear um but mixed with some spices as well
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like again i'm still getting that like paprika cayenne pepper kind of like savory uh normally
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you think baking spices but i'm getting like actual cooking spices but flavor wise it's super
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rich i'm actually really impressed by how much that um those finishes are impacting this whiskey
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which I shouldn't be surprised. It's barrel, right? Like I'm such a fan of the other stuff
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they've done there. I really enjoyed this. I mean, it's not something I'm going to reach for every
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day. Um, it's also like MSRP is around 80 or $90. I paid 57 for it. Um, would I pay 80 to $90 for
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another bottle? No, it's not really my flavor profile. It's very weird. It's kind of funky
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It has a little bit of that Tennessee whiskey note. Um, but I love how fun this one is. I
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you know as much as I love seagrass I think I'm biased towards that one because I'm such a fan of
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rye whiskey that that serving is the base is what's really making me love seagrass whereas this one
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it does have that Tennessee whiskey as a base it's not the most you know domineering kind of
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flavor profile to be the main backbone of this whiskey however you know it's super weird and
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super interesting and you know at under $60 I think if you can find it on sale like I did
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give it a shot this is weird but it's like it's funky in a good way so I'm gonna keep sipping on
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this as I go through this whole podcast I may chime in every now and then with an update because
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this one's going to take some opening up because of how strange it is but overall well done barrel
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I mean you you continue to impress me with these these crazy releases whether it's dovetail or
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seagrass or or amita I mean definitely if you come out with something new like that give it a shot at
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least once because you'll definitely be surprised once you give it a try so while that opens up a
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bit my glass let me pull up my list of new whiskeys that are coming out um these have already
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been announced and we're only in january so far which is crazy um some of these were known about
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ahead of time some of these just broke news um a couple weeks ago or if not even you know sooner
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than that um one of these that's already out is actually an american whiskey it's by rabbit hole
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it's called star lino which is a rye whiskey finished in italian vermouth casks which is a
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very interesting combination normally you know like a rye whiskey vermouth you think of a manhattan
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And so this is kind of seems like the flavor profile they're going for here. This is $50
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It's a 375 milliliter bottle. So about, you know, double the cost of typical rabbit hole rye, which I've had on the channel
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If you haven't seen my stream, I've had Adam from rabbit hole on several times, actually
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So I'm going to hit him up. You know, this seems like a fun one to do on the channel. I would love to try it
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Vermouth is sometimes like a weird thing for me. Like sometimes if I have a whiskey that has a strong vermouth note, the first one that comes to mind is like the 17
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um the Thomas S. Moore um they had a Chardonnay cask finish that gave me a really strong vermouth
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kind of note and I didn't love that um I don't know if it's kind of like that fermented wine or
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like wine when it starts to go bad there's like a little bit of a note there that I don't really love um but I'm really curious to try this because like I said a Manhattan is one of my favorite
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cocktails um so trying a rye whiskey that's actually been finished in uh vermouth barrels
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sounds super interesting now it's named after the hotel starlino rozo which is a vermouth company
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they are based in turin italy i think so they made this actually in collaboration to make a cocktail
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so this was invented with a manhattan in mind so they actually sent the casks of this vermouth to
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rabbit hole where they mingled their straight rye whiskey in with the vermouth or the vermouth barrel and it seems to really picked up a lot of the flavors it was aged for six months in those vermouth barrels it says it has notes of vanilla rose and a tang of tropical fruit each sip a complex mix of spices against a backdrop of sweet whiskey and wine flavors
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so this sounds really really interesting it is a limited edition it is small batch
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and it is you know relatively pricey so i will definitely reach out to my content at rabbit hole
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Like I said, Adam, he's a great guy. He's their digital brand ambassador. And we'll see if we can get this on the channel or maybe the podcast
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So I'm excited about that. Let me know if you guys have tried that. I know it's just came out, but I do see that it is for sale on their website
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So if anyone's tried it, let me know how it is. It sounds very, very interesting, especially with cocktails in mind
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Another American whiskey that I just saw the TTB label for. Jack Daniels is coming out with a 12-year-old release
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right off the heels of their Jack Daniels 10, which did so well, I could never find a bottle
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I had a sample from a friend. It was delicious. It was way better than I thought it was going to be
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And that was like the first age-dated Jack Daniels in a long, long time. So the fact that they are about to put out a 12-year-old version is very, very exciting
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Now, this 12-year-old release is 107 proof. It does say limited release
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Now, again, I'm just looking at the TTB label. There's not been an official announcement about this or anything
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uh one thing to note it is in a 700 milliliter bottle which implies it might be a travel exclusive
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which would be a bottle that you can get at like a duty-free shop at the airport um i know jack
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daniels has done a couple of those i know the bottle and bond i think was a travel exclusive um but man a 12 year old age dated jack daniels that's so exciting i mean you gotta think that
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the single barrel barrel proofs that everyone loves i believe are in the six to eight year
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range i don't don't quote me on that but i'm pretty sure those are like six years old ish
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so the fact that this is doubled age it's not barrel proof but it's 107 proof that's got me
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really excited so like i said no details yet about that i don't know the price i don't know
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availability but i know i'm gonna keep my eyes on that because that 10 year old sample that i had
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was so delicious one of the best things last year i would have included on my top of 2021
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if i had an actual bottle i sought it out but i could not find it so keep an eye out for that one
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now the rest of these are scotch releases but they are some really really cool ones so take a look at
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this. Ardbeg is releasing their 2022 special limited edition release. It's called Hypernova
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So you may be, it may sound familiar because they have had a supernova in the past, but this one is
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actually Hypernova. Now this, this is actually the label for the committee release, which you know
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is typically higher proof. It's a little more limited. I had the committee release of Scorch
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which was last year's release, which was absolutely fantastic. And this sounds right up my alley. So
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according to the label it says propel your palate at full force towards the smokiest dram ever to
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mature into existence at Ardbeg discover fabric tearingly intense notes of tar creosate I don't
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know that word and soot venture further into the glass and explain etherial whispers of aniseed
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smoke and dark chocolate so this sounds like the smokiest Ardbeg yet this committee release does
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come in at 51% ABV and they say on the back of the bottle it says it's a trans-dimensional smoky
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dram possibly the smokiest dram in the world this one at least oh I like I love the whole alien
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theming here it's so it's so cool they say hypernova possesses a multi-magnitude never before
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experienced this is a brutally smoky dram that radiates flavor in every direction this is a
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cataclysmic event for the distillery it's big it's tense and it's pulling palettes into a whole
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new dimension so i love big bold rich peaty uh scotches um i love ard bag so this is an absolute
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must buy for me as soon as i see it if i see it uh this just sounds absolutely incredible i love a
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big smoky peaty scotch which i know if you're listening to this as like a bourbon drink you're
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like ew disgusting but i swear the peated scotches were the ones that really got me into scotch in
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general i didn't like the highlands you know like the more malty note scotches i like the big bold
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smoky ones so the fact that this is like almost maybe leap reaching towards octomore levels we'll
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see again we just have the ttb label um i'm very very excited for this year's ard bag i had a sample
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of supernova thanks to my friend aaron um who was in my local group and it was fantastic i think that
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was the 2019 supernova i'm not sure if it's the same direction as hypernova but all i know is this
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just sounds like a delicious ard bag and uh if y'all happen to see it um hit me up because i'm
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very very curious to try this one speaking of Ardbeg that's not the only release so with this
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release I don't know if this was an accidental leak or not but around the same time there was a
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label released for Ardbeg for mutation not fermentation for mutation and it's expected
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to be announced in February but the label came out as well this is actually a accident so in the
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whiskey world I mean some other examples are with wild turkey they had the forgiven which was like a
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buu-ray kind of accidental mixture. This sounds like a kind of similar thing. This happened 13
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years ago when this actually was first, you know, fermented. It says it's a consequence of an
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unplanned experiment that resulted in the longest fermentation in Ardbeg's history. So apparently in November of 2007, there was actually a boiler that broke at Ardbeg
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and it threatened the very existence of six washbacks full of precious liquid, as they
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describe it uh says the team tried everything they could to get the boiler going but to no avail
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when they realized that you know that hey this is this is the problem they actually decided to
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open up the lids of the fermenting tanks and expose it to just the open air in isla
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and they let it ferment for three weeks which is the longest in ardbeg history so this was naturally fermenting as opposed to you know using the boilers to kind of speed up the process
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Normally it's only fermented for 72 hours, so three weeks is completely unexpected
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But it's actually really interesting to know what it would do under natural circumstances, you know, exposed to the air
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I'm very, very curious to see how this actually tastes. They describe it as tasting like pure science fiction
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Pete and smoke meld beautifully with fresh floral flavors. They say while sharp malty notes give Ardbeg firm mutation a uniquely zingy profile
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Zingy is not a note I typically associate with Ardbeg. So this one, I don't actually know how available this is going to be
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It is 13 years old, which is very, very old for Ardbeg, in terms of standard releases at least
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And this is going to be a committee-only release, so maybe we'll get to see it
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It depends, you know, how quickly, especially with it being like a rare, like, accident. There's a good chance we're not going to see much of this outside of, you know, the rabid Ardbeg fans out there
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Which, you know, I support them. I hopefully have a few of them in my local group that can get a bottle and maybe a sample for me to review
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But, you know, sometimes when things go wrong, they lead to some really cool, interesting results
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So, I love experimentation. Like, I mean, obviously, with this Beryl Armida, I love some weird, funky stuff
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So I'm obviously looking for the hypernova first and foremost, but the permutation sounds
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really, really funky and really interesting. So that's piqued my interest. And lastly, a release that I will never get
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Glendronic actually announced their 50-year-old limited edition bottle. So this is 50-year-old Scotch whiskey
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There's only 198 bottles in existence, and they retail for over $27,000 each
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so this was distilled in 1971 like i said fewer than 200 bottles and it's the first 50 year release
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i think they're going for the whole mccallan market you know how they have that premium single
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malt um whiskey market i think um it's it's an interesting whiskey it looks absolutely beautiful
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you guys gotta check out the pictures of this it's it's an absolutely stunning box and and bottle
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master blender rachel barry actually says this is the most prestigious expression of what this
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timeless richly sherried highland single malt scotch has to offer at 50 years old is exceptionally
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rich and seductive with mellow layers of alluring complexity so this was actually aged in px and
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oloroso sherry casks and then it was married into a single px sherry cask at the end so definitely
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a sherry bomb and i love sherry bombs and i'm so sad that i can't get my hands on this the the abv
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of this is 43 percent um i don't know if that's cast strength i assume because like literally 50
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years like oh my god but they say that flavor notes the aromas are dark cherry and plum with
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a plume of tobacco on the nose and then on the palate it has flavors of dark chocolate black
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cherry and espresso so it sounds absolutely delicious it's in a like i said a leather leather
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case it's just an absolutely beautiful bottle and release and if you got the money i mean each of
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these are actually available for pickup now they're they're hand numbered so if you want to get your
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hands on one of less than 200 bottles definitely um seek that out i mean i don't i don't have much
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advice because i i have no interest in buying a 27 000 whiskey um if i had the funds available
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sure maybe you know if i'm saving for a special occasion or one i'm really impressed some uh i
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was gonna say friends but that's that's a bottle you impress like you know co-workers or clients
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or whatever um definitely not foreseeable in my near or far far distant future i think i'll stick
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with my Ardbegs and my rabbit holes. Or my Beryl Armita. You know what? It's funky enough and it's
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readily available. By the way, going back to the Armita, it's still really weird. I think it kind
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of goes a little bit more sweeter now that it's been sitting for a bit. It's like very candy-like
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I don't know what candy exactly because it's so different. It's almost like maybe marzipan
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if we want to go there. But it has like a sweet kind of lightly fruity, almost like taffy kind of
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note. That's really super interesting. Like I said, I think for the price I paid for it
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I'm not upset about that. I would maybe buy another one. I personally would rather grab
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a seagrass because I just like a rye whiskey, especially when it's got those funky finishes
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Rye whiskey just does better to me than Tennessee whiskey. But that does it for today's episode. Thank y'all for bearing with me with this shorter
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episode. I didn't have any video game news. Like I said, I've been not feeling great for
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the past like four days so today's the first day i actually feel well enough to get up and get this
21:46
recorded i'm also about to completely blow my palate with these spicy death nut challenge so
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like i said if you haven't watched that stream check it out youtube.com slash bourbon bites
21:57
if you want to support the show you can join patreon patreon.com slash bourbon bites for as
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little as two dollars a month you get sneak peeks and early access to my videos like my new elijah
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Craig Barrel Proof review that came out on Patreon before anyone on YouTube saw it
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But you can also get access to things like our monthly hangouts, which is going to be Saturday, which is actually the day after this comes out
22:17
So if you want to join Patreon and get a taste of what our monthly hangouts are like, for $5 a month, you get access to that one
22:24
And of course, at $10, you get access to our after party Thursday night hangouts, which
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I'm looking forward to tonight and seeing if my mouth is still on fire by the time of
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the hangout. So until next time, this has been Bourbon Bites. Cheers. and I'll talk to you next podcast
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