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JK Williams Gold Zephyr Bourbon & Bridge Series Whiskey Review, and the Future of Playstation VR2...
May 19, 2026
On today's episode, I'm reviewing two whiskeys from J.K. Williams Distilling out of Peoria, Illinois - including their Zephyr Straight Bourbon Whiskey and Bridge Series Wheat Whiskey. I'm also talking about a new 13-year-old Light Whiskey from Penelope Bourbon and the next generation of virtual reality gaming from Playstation VR2. Questions or comments? Reach me at [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
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On today's episode of the Bourbon Bites podcast, I'm reviewing two whiskeys from J.K. Williams Distilling out of Peoria, Illinois
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talking about a new light whiskey from Penelope Bourbon, and geeking out about the next generation of VR gaming on PS5
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Hello everyone and welcome to the Bourbon Bites podcast. I'm your host Clifton and welcome to 2022
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I've been doing a little bit of shorter podcasts the past few weeks because I've been traveling for the holidays and I've just been really busy
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But now I am back to my normal routine, so I have a little bit more time to dive into certain whiskeys and whiskey and gaming news for you guys
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So thank you guys for sticking around through the break. I know it was like kind of shorter episodes, so I'm going to try to keep this one at the normal, you know, 20 minute length
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But we'll see. We got two different whiskeys to review today. They were sent to me by the J.K. Williams Distillery, which is out of Peoria, Illinois
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Which is funny enough, I just did a live stream on my YouTube channel a few weeks back of Whiskey Acres
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which was another Illinois-based small craft distillery. I'm not sure if these guys saw that stream and reached out to me after that, or they just happened to reach out
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Either way, I'm so glad they sent me these two whiskeys to review. We have their Gold Zephyr Bourbon Whiskey, as well as their American Wheat Whiskey that just came out last September
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So looking forward to getting into these, as well as sharing some interesting news in both whiskey and video games
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So like I said, back to the normal routine. So I need something in my glass, so I'm going to go ahead and pour their Gold Zephyr Bourbon
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So this is a four-year-old straight bourbon whiskey. It's 90 proof. So J.K. Williams Distilling is actually the oldest continuously operating distillery in this town
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Now, I don't know much about Peoria, Illinois. You know, I've never been there. But apparently, they used to be one of the whiskey capitals of the world
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Now, that's self-proclaimed title. But at one point, there were over 70 different distilleries there in the 1800s
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And they were producing over 18 million gallons of alcohol. So that's whiskey history that I didn't know much about
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I didn't realize that Illinois was so important to whiskey-making history. So that's awesome. I'm glad to find that out now
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Now, J.K. Williams is named after a Peoria-based bootlegger in the Prohibition era
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and apparently rumor has it that he was run out of town by none other than Al Capone
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So like I said, this is a very historic name in distilling. However, in its current iteration, only started up in 2020
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So Andy Ferris and Stacey Shunk actually revived this brand. It had previously tried to have a little bit of a revival in the mid-2010s
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It lasted about eight years and then it shut down again. So they brought it back to life at a different location
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so it's a relatively i mean it's not even just relatively like 2020 starting a new distillery in
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2020 is very very new so i'm so excited to see what they have to put out so like i said this is
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the gold zephyr i'm probably mispronouncing that it's spelled z-e-p-h-y-r it is a four-year-old
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bourbon whiskey which makes me think that you know maybe either this was distilling there's not much
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information on this they didn't you know send me any facts on this so i don't know for sure if this
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is sourced or if maybe this was maybe taken over from the distillery that had, you know
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started in the, like I said, mid 2010s. I don't know the details on this one
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I would love, you know, if they listen to this episode, if they have any more info on it, I'll make sure to set the record straight in the future
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But I'm going to assume that this is, I don't know, I'm not going to assume anything
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Let's just go and get in the glass and maybe I can figure out what it is. Like I said, there's no mash bill or anything released about this whiskey
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It is about $60 MSRP. So, you know, relatively pricey, especially, you know, it is 90 proof, but it is a new brand
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And we know that a lot of times those do have higher startup costs. But yeah, I'm gonna go ahead and give this a nose
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On the nose, it's surprisingly light and a little bit floral and some like honey there as well
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It's very sweet on the nose. Now, like I said, we don't know the mash bill of this one
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We know it's a bourbon, so it's at least 51% corn. But on the nose, it's not really jumping out to me as anything specific, whether it's a rye-based bourbon or a weeded bourbon
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So I'm going to have to go in for a taste of this one. Let's go ahead and try it. Cheers, guys. Okay, so based on first impressions, again, this is just based on my experience with whiskey
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I would probably guess that this is a weeded bourbon Like I said they also sent me a wheat whiskey so they all already have some experience with you know a wheat mash bill It very very light
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even though it's 90 proof, it doesn't linger at all. Like you take the sip, you take a swallow
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and it's gone. It's very thin, but it does have a nice bit of like a honey, like a honey tea kind
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of note on the first sip. It's kind of expressing itself like some whiskeys that I've had that have
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and aged in smaller barrels so it has a little bit more astringency from the oak even though it
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is younger like we said this is four years old which really isn't that young it kind of gives
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it more of like a new like kind of sawdust kind of note which in itself is not bad by any means
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but it's a lot different than like the older oak that I get on you know some of my favorite
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whiskeys with that said though like on the mid palate it does kind of round itself out it kind
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of starts out a little astringent but that like honey floralness of it really works well and even
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though this is, you know, like I said, like a lighter whiskey. It's a little thin on the mouth
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feel. It does have a, you know, pretty nice flavor. It's not overly affected by that young wood. It has
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like a nice balanced sweetness there. But yeah, I think this is a weeded bourbon. Again, no
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confirmation there. There's, I know very little about this whiskey, but based on what I know
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and knowing the price of it, I think it's not bad. It's not necessarily something I would gravitate
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towards, especially at the price point. Now, again, I know that craft distilleries have so much
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overhead costs. So I don't think $60 as a four-year-old bourbon in itself is bad. It's just
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I feel like this whiskey kind of leaves something to be desired. And I don't know what that is
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exactly. It just falls a little bit flat for me. And I think, you know, maybe this is something
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that would benefit more from more age, maybe even higher proof. It's not bad at all. I mean
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especially if you're beginning into bourbon, you don't like the higher proof stuff. This is not offensive. I just think it's, you know, $60 is more than I would personally pay for it. So before
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we move on to their bridge series American wheat whiskey, I do have some whiskey news to share that
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I'm pretty excited about. So big shout out to my friend Brandon, who sent me a text yesterday
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but it seems like Penelope Bourbon is actually releasing a 13 year old light whiskey, which if
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you watch my stream, I had their one of their co-founders on and he talked about this whiskey
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He actually sent me a sample of it before it was even bottled. So I just sent him an email this
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morning to find out if this is for sure the exact same thing that he sent me if so i would love to
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have him back on the show to talk about this new release it is released at cast strength and the
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whiskey itself is from indiana it's from the old seagrams distillery now you know owned by mgp
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but yeah 13 year old 99 corn mash bill and msrp of 80 so a little bit more than some of the light
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whiskeys i've had on the channel but a lot less than some of the premium light whiskeys like old
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Carter. I have not tried my sample he gave me yet. I shared some with Brandon. We'll see if he
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responds to my email. If so, I'm going to have him back on the channel and we're going to review
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this new 13-year-old light whiskey. I'm very excited about it because the folks over at Penelope
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are awesome and I enjoyed having them on a stream before and I'm excited to maybe have them on again
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So let me know if you guys see that one, if you've tried it. I was a big fan of the light
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whiskeys I tried on the stream with Brandon last time. That was a couple, that was probably a couple
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months ago, we did Obtanium Light Whiskies and we threw in an old Carter and the results were very
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very surprising. So if you missed that, make sure to check out that stream on YouTube, youtube.com slash bourbon bites. But I'm learning that light whiskey is a category that shouldn't be
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ignored and I'm excited to see what they do with it. So stay tuned for more on that. So let's go
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ahead and move on to the other whiskey from JK Williams. This is their Bridge Series American
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wheat whiskey. Now this is one of their newest products. This was actually just released in
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September of 2021. It is paying tribute to, I guess by being bridge series, that means there's
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going to be more of these coming out. But this first release honors the Murray Baker Bridge
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which is in Peoria. And here's a quote from their head distiller, Jeff Murphy. He says that each
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expression in the bridge series will consist of a blend between products we've kept in barrels
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over the years with the newer American wheat whiskey. We are bridging the gap between old and new with this series
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all while we wait for our other products to continue to age. So going back to the other one I just reviewed
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it seems like they already have some products in barrels, which makes me think, you know, with this brand just kind of starting back up in 2020
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maybe they had a lot more going on behind the scenes before they officially announced it. Again, I was looking at a press release from the end of 2020 that talked about
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you know, the new distillery. So maybe some of these whiskeys have been aging, and maybe that four-year-old that we had earlier was their own stuff
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So I love to maybe have some clarification from them on that If it entirely their own stuff you know that better than if they sourcing this and then they releasing it at I think it a good start but I really excited to try this American Wheat Whiskey because I noticed a lot of craft distilleries lately doing wheat whiskey
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And I'm excited. I think wheat whiskey is a category that often gets overlooked. I remember talking with Alex Castle from Old Dominic, and she just said wheat whiskey is something that, you know, people aren't really doing
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And she wanted to do something different. And I think that's I'm glad to see more brands doing something similar because wheat whiskey can be really great on its own
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So I'm excited to try this one. This one is 94 proof. There's no age statement that I can tell
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And they do say that it is blended, a newer one that they sourced, I believe, mixed with some of their own stuff
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So they do say that each of these is a blend of their own products mixed with a newer American wheat whiskey
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So I assume this is a blend, too. again no information whether it was where it was distilled or aged or anything like that
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this one's MSRP is at $49.99 so a little bit cheaper we do know that it is 95 percent wheat
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which is a pretty high wheat amount you know with being a wheat whiskey it just has to be at least
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51 percent but they're using 95 percent wheat for this one let's go ahead and get that in the glass
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oh man it's been a minute since I've had a you know wheat whiskey it's a lot softer than the
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bourbon it's really nice on the nose honestly it's super balanced it's like a nice blend of
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oak you know there's not an age statement on this but you can tell that the oak has impacted it
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really nicely less aggressive than the the small batch bourbon that we reviewed earlier but it's
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very delicate and very light on the nose so let's go and give it a taste cheers oh man yeah i think
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that's an improvement over the the bourbon just first impressions here wheat whiskey is such a
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difficult category because a lot of times rye is considered the flavor grain in in a bourbon so you
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don't think of wheat as having much flavor so it's very delicate and light it has some of those
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similar honey notes that i got on the bourbon and i'm having a little bit of difficulty finding
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really the oak impact on it i got a little bit of on the nose but on the palate this doesn't even
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taste like it was aged in the same barrels that the the bourbon was aged in i'm not getting any
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of the astringent oak it's very you know being 94 proof this does drink a little bit lower proof i
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would never have guessed that it's so high a lot of the flavor really shows up honestly on like the
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exhale like after you drink it um i'm getting a lot of that like wheat bread kind of notes um
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which you would expect from a you know a wheat whiskey um but man that's that's actually pretty
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enjoyable my experience with wheat whiskeys is very very limited so um i i guess i haven't had
11:34
too many to judge this by but i think this is on par with every other wheat whiskey i've had and
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at 50 you know again you're paying the premium of it being a craft brand however this was pretty
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exciting because they're restoring whiskey distilling to a town that apparently was once
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It's one of the best places in the country to make whiskey. Just about that they're honoring that legacy of Peoria, Illinois
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And also, you know, honoring these bridges. They're throwing a lot of hometown tributes there
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And if you are from the area, I mean, this will not disappoint you. Especially if you want to show off, you know, your pride of your town
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This is a great way to do it. I think it's actually a really, really nice whiskey. For me personally, I think $50 is more than I would pay for this if I were purchasing it
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which, by the way, you can purchase it at a few different select Illinois retailers, including Benny's
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Benny's has both of these in stock when I checked earlier. But it's a solid whiskey, and if you were debating between the two
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I think the Bridge Series American Wheat Whiskey is the way to go
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It's a solid whiskey. So thank you again to the folks over at JK Williams for sending this over
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If you do happen to listen to this and you have more info you want to share or other products you want to put out
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please let me know. I would be happy to have you on the YouTube channel, maybe to do a live stream in the future
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but usually when I don't get much information and I just get you know a couple samples I'm
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happy to you know do it on the podcast here so thank you for allowing me to do that. I just love
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learning about all these different craft distilleries that are you know reviving a legacy
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I mean we hear about ones that are you know family you know history their great great great grandpa
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was a distiller and they bring that name to life. This is a similar situation this distillery has
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been around since you know the heydays of distilling back in the 1800s pre-prohibition
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And it's people like, you know, Andy or Stacy or even Jeff, who's their master distiller, who are bringing these back to life
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And I think that's really awesome. So kudos to them. And I look forward to see what's coming from J.K. Williams in the future
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So before we go, we do have a little bit of gaming news. PlayStation announced the next generation of PlayStation VR
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I've not actually used PlayStation VR. I have an Oculus Rift I bought years and years and years ago when the first one actually came to market I had a Gear VR when I had a Samsung phone but I have not had the PlayStation VR I always been curious about it I like how it a lot more contained and a lot more you know
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you don't have all these wires going everywhere and sensors and all that. But apparently PlayStation
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VR 2 is going to be a massive leap forward in virtual reality and one that I am so excited for
13:57
So this new device has an OLED display. It's 4K HDR. It has 110 degree field of view and it has a
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refresh rate of between 90 and 120 hertz so that's definitely an upgrade and you know all of those
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categories compared to the original it also has some new sensory features including a motor in
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the headset itself that lets you feel vibrations it also has improved 3d sound so you can you know
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walking through a jungle you can feel the leaves brush against the top of your head that seems
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really cool i love the whole idea of like haptic feedback i'm a big fan of ready player one and
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that was like a big thing in in that book and the films as well the haptic suits that let you really
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feel the virtual world i think this is one step closer to that and 3d audio just always impresses
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me you know feeling like there is something happening around you and that combined with
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the haptics the visuals this is going to really immerse you and that seems to be the big focus
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with playstation vr 2 is immersion and sensories and you know they want to make you feel emotions
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and feel like you're actually there and another way they do that is with eye tracking which is
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one of the biggest things that i think most people have been looking forward to in virtual reality
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So it can detect when you're looking in a specific direction, you know, it can interact with different things depending on what you're looking at
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That also does help out with, you know, rendering, you know, making sure that the things you're focused on are the clearest to you
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So I think that alone would make me want to buy this headset. I think that's such a forward-looking feature, and I'm so excited to see how PlayStation uses that because that could completely change the game in virtual reality
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I mean, the fact that you can look at certain things and maybe trigger certain events in the game, you know
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you look over at the guy in the corner and he's like what are you looking at you know something like that i think that would just be so cool and i'm so here for it as long as it's you know a fair
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price now pricing has not been revealed we don't know very much details at all about the actual
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release of this it was just announced but either way this is going to be a strong contender for my
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next virtual reality system they did talk about one game that was coming to playstation vr 2
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and that is horizon call of the mountain so the same developers of horizon zero dawn as well as
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It's a new game that's coming out in February. Built a ground-up VR experience
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So this is supposedly not just like, you know, like a fun little, you know, 30-minute experience
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This is like an actual full-fledged game. And we don't know very much about it. But it is an original game
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They're not basing it off of, you know, either of the games that have already came out. But it's supposed to let players enter the world of Horizon, which is so cool
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Those games, if you haven't looked into them, they are so detailed. And the environments are just so, so absolutely beautiful and stunning
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I think that experiencing in virtual reality would change the game. They put out a little bit of a teaser where you're looking up at this giant creature
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and I don't want to spoil it, but I think the biggest thing if you haven't tried virtual reality is scale
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I think a lot of times when you're watching a video game on a TV screen, you don't really appreciate how big certain things are
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but when you're in virtual reality and you feel like you're actually there, you can look up and see massive skyscrapers or whatever
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You can look down and see that you are standing on top of a skyscraper. that's why i really want to get back into vr i haven't really dived in since i got my oculus rift
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it's just such a headache to set up i have to have a sensor and so many wires coming out of
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the back of my head i'm so ready to upgrade to the 2022 version of virtual reality and you know
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they didn't say if this is coming out this year i would hope so maybe later this year maybe around
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holiday season i don't know but i'm very very excited for playstation vr 2 and it may very well
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be my next uh virtual reality console i'll keep you all updated but i think that does it for this
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episode hopefully you guys enjoyed it no matter where you're listening make sure you are following
17:28
the podcast as well as leaving a rating and or review depending on your platform it really does
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help promote the podcast and get it out to more ears and it just means a heck of a lot to me so
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thank y'all for listening each week look forward to even more interesting episodes coming this year
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i really want to focus on the podcast and the twitch streams a bit more this year
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last year i kind of was just getting them started but 2022 is going to be my year so
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Thank you all for coming along for the ride. This has been Bourbon Bites, Whiskey Reviews with a gaming twist
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Cheers, and I'll talk to you next episode
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