Blue Note Cherry Wood Cask Bourbon Review + Whiskey Made With VENISON?!

Blue Note Cherry Wood Cask Review: This week I'm tasting the brand-new Blue Note Cherry Wood Cask Volume 1, a cask-strength bourbon finished in wild cherry wood from France - but first, the whiskey world somehow gets even weirder. Beam has two major releases on the way. The second-ever Booker's rye takes things in a completely unexpected direction with apple brandy cask finishing and cinnamon infusion, while Little Book The Infinite Edition III continues Freddie Noe's infinity experiment with whiskey including a 23-year-old Knob Creek component originally distilled under Booker Noe. Chicken Cock is also celebrating its 170th anniversary with an 8-year, 115-proof bourbon and a seriously cool vintage-inspired ceramic rooster decanter. Then we get to one of the strangest whiskey stories I've covered all year: Tamworth Distilling's Deerslayer Whiskey, a venison-flavored whiskey made with red deer meat. Yes. Actual venison. On the other end of the spectrum, the Cincinnati Association for the Blind and Visually Impaired partnered with Northside Distilling on a limited Braille Bourbon featuring a tactile Braille label and raising money to support people adapting to vision loss. Blue Note also announced wider distribution for its Honey Bourbon Cask and Honey Rye Cask releases, which leads perfectly into this week's Byte-Sized Review. Blue Note Cherry Wood Cask Volume 1 is a 119.4-proof, unfiltered bourbon finished for four months in wild cherry wood casks sourced from the Jura region of eastern France. And an important distinction: these barrels didn't contain cherries. The flavor is coming from the cherry wood itself. The result genuinely surprised me. Expect bright red fruit, cherry and red apple skin, fresh oak, vanilla, caramel, sweetness, spice, and a finish strong enough that it almost gives me Manhattan vibes without actually tasting artificially flavored. At about $65, this ended up being one of my favorite finished bourbons I've had in quite a while. On the gaming side, I also break down Microsoft's latest Xbox restructuring, Activision taking a larger role with Halo, and Hideo Kojima's PHYSINT moving from PlayStation publishing to Xbox. Topics covered: • Booker's 2026 rye release • Little Book The Infinite Edition III • Chicken Cock 170th Anniversary • Tamworth Deerslayer Venison Whiskey • Braille Bourbon • Blue Note Honey Bourbon and Honey Rye • Xbox restructuring and Halo • Hideo Kojima's PHYSINT • Blue Note Cherry Wood Cask Volume 1 review Would you try cherry wood-finished bourbon - and would you EVER drink whiskey made with venison? YouTube Chapter Markers: 00:00 Intro - Venison Whiskey, Little Book & Blue Note 00:30 Welcome + Whiskey Gets Weird 01:02 Booker's Rye + Little Book Infinite Edition III 03:37 Chicken Cock 170th Anniversary Decanter 05:45 Deerslayer Venison Whiskey?! 08:26 Braille Bourbon 10:45 Blue Note Honey Bourbon + Honey Rye 12:09 Xbox Restructuring + Halo Moves to Activision 13:44 Hideo Kojima's PHYSINT Moves to Xbox 15:15 Byte-Sized Review - Blue Note Cherry Wood Cask Volume 1 23:03 Byte Club + Outro