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Knob Creek has always had a place on my bar cart. Today, I'm comparing the 100 proof and cask strength versions of Knob Creek 12 Year, talking about some new Rye whiskeys from Still Austin and Uncle Nearest, plus sharing what games I've been enjoying the most so far in 2022: It Takes Two and Hot Wheels Unleashed. 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 Knob Creek 12-Year-Old Bourbon
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and comparing it with the Cask Strength release. Plus, I'm talking about what games I've been enjoying the most so far in 2022
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Hello everyone and welcome to another episode of the Bourbon Bites podcast
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I'm your host, Clifton. And today I thought it would be really fun to do a bit of a comparison
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So this week has been pretty light in terms of whiskey news and video game news
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There's not too much to talk about. So I wanted to take this time to not only compare two of my favorite bourbons I've tried recently
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but also talk about what games I've been playing recently. Some of these you may know from streams on Twitch, but some others I haven't really talked very much about
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So this is going to be a very chill stream. So pour a glass or unless you're driving, then, you know, drive safely
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But if you're at home and listening, grab a glass, maybe of some Knob Creek if you have some, because we're about to get into Knob Creek 12 year old
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So I've had the regular 12 year old release for a while now. I actually just bought a backup bottle at the end of last year, but I actually just got into a sample of the cast strength version of Knob Creek 12 year
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Huge shout out to our friends, Brian and Tammy Brinecke. I believe they are the ones that gave me the sample
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I've had it for a really long time, and I actually forgot I had it
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I've been, you know, desperately trying to find a bottle of the 12 cast strength. Have had no luck
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I've heard I didn't even make it out here to California, which explains why I haven't found it
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But thanks to wonderful viewers and friends, I get a chance to try it
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So I'm going to start with the regular 12-year-old. Like I said, I've had this for a while
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I've really been enjoying it. My second bottle actually came from a flash sale at BevMo
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It's the same time I got a bottle of Old Forrester birthday bourbon, which I haven't quite figured out what I'm doing with yet
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But I had a second account for my husband, and all of the good stuff was gone
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But they did have the 12, just the regular small batch version of the 12, for only $50
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I'm like, heck yes, that's a crazy good price. So I bought a backup bottle, but this is my original one
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I've had it since it pretty much came out. This was almost like a day one buy for me
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I had to know how it was. So let's go and get it poured. So this release is 100 proof, same as standard Knob Creek, but it does have a 12 year old age
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statement, which is three more than the standard Knob Creek. Now it's very, very easy to try to
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compare this to the single barrel store picks that came out. Probably 2019 was when I saw the most of
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them that were, you know, 12 to 16 years old. I enjoyed very, very many of those. I absolutely
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loved the older ones. I have backup bottles of some of the 14 year old picks I bought
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But I think those days are behind us. Sadly, I don't think we're going to see store picks that
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are that old anytime soon. Most of the ones that have come out here have been just under 10 years
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old. So, you know, not bad at all, especially for the price they are. But I don't think we're going
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to see those older releases again. I mean, hopefully in the future. That's kind of been
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one of my hopes for 2022 in whiskey. I'd love to see more older releases. You know, we see so many
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great five to six-year-old MGP. I would love to try it at seven to eight years old. So I love older
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whiskey, which is why I'm glad that, you know, Knob Creek may not be giving us the 14-year-old
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store picks, but they are giving us a 12-year-old, which is, again, older than the standard release
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So let's go ahead and give this a nose. Oh man, that's so warming and inviting. I mean, Knob Creek
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for the longest time has really been one of my favorite expressions of bourbon
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Y'all know Elijah Craig Barrel Proof is my favorite bourbon just in general
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However, I had to pick a label that was my favorite. I gotta go with Knob Creek
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I think everything that Knob Creek has put out, whether it's the small batch, the single barrel, the cast strength, the 2001
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all the different Knob Creeks have been so, so delicious. So I think Knob Creek is my favorite label of bourbon
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Although the only thing I haven't tried from them is the smoked maple, which I don't know about that one. It's actually a flavored whiskey. But other than that, I think
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Knob Creek just makes incredible, incredible products. If I see Knob Creek on anything
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even as a new product, I'm going to buy it and try it. The only thing that's kind of let me down
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was the 15-year, which was also 100 proof. I just think for the price, I don't think it was worth it
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But this one, like I said, I grabbed a backup bottle for $50. I think that's significantly below
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MSRP. I think I paid around $60 or $65 for this first one. So I'm going to be judging it based on
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MSRP versus, you know, the crazy good deal I got on the backup bottle. This, though, is just
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everything I love about Knob Creek 12 on the nose. It's oaky, it's rich, it's, you know, even at 100
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proof, there's so much character there. And I really like the flavor profile of most Jim Beam
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products. Yes, it's nutty. So if you don't like nutty or peanut butter, you may not like this as
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much but I'm a huge huge fan of those flavors so I can definitely tell this is going to be a nutty
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nut bomb I don't know a nut bomb on the palate all right let's go get a taste cheers guys
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oh man that's so nice it's got so much oak richness intoxicating levels of oak I feel
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like one of my favorite phrases I've been saying lately is that this is like a saturated oak and I
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get that note from knob creek knob creek is the one that inspired me using that note for a lot of
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whiskeys it like a rich older oak it not dry it not you know young like wood shavings it is saturated with flavor It not tannic but it has a lot of depth and wood sugars and really dark rich flavor notes And that
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exactly what I'm getting on this bourbon. Surprisingly, the nuttiness isn't what catches
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me first. It's, you know, that oak, but it's also a brown sugar, dark caramel note as well
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It kind of leaves your mouth feeling like you just ate a really decadent piece of like caramel
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or maybe like a like a praline i grew up i grew up in south carolina so pralines were like the
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definition of a decadent dessert um it kind of leaves you feeling like that finish wise i mean
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dang for 100 proof whiskey this is an exceptionally long finish it honestly has just as good of a
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finish as some cask strength bourbons i've had which is a really really great thing it lingers
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but in the best of ways so i'm going to leave a little bit of that in my glass and grab another
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glencar and glass and pour the 12 cast strength so this one that i have here in the sample is
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120.5 proof so very very similar to the single barrel releases those aren't cast strength i've
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been saying cast strength but they are you know capped at 120 proof some of them do go higher in
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terms of like when it's pulled out of the barrel but for the single barrel releases they always
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proof them down to 120 which is kind of disappointing but you know it's so high i'm not
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going to fault them for that however this is natural cast strength and it's 120.5 so no water
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has been added to this uh knop creek like i said this was a very very limited release um it only
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made it to a few places the msrp on it was 90 dollars um which is still i mean it's a little
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bit less than the 15 year um but it is you know cast strength and i think that is a very you know
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i mean yes a again you want to compare it to the single barrel um picks that were coming out that
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were 14 15 16 years old at 120 proof those were around 60 which was a heck of a deal i mean that
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was an absolute steal um but this is kind of what we have now 90 pricey but hopefully this is worth
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it i have not had this um in a while so i'm excited to go back into it i took a little sip
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of it when i first rediscovered that i hadn't let it sit here for you know a few months um but i'm
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excited to finally give it an official tasting interview uh here on the podcast which by the way
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If you're enjoying it, make sure you are following me on whatever platform you're listening on
7:53
I am on Podbean, which is where I produce the episodes. But the episodes are available on Apple, Google, Spotify, iHeartRadio, Audible
8:02
So wherever you choose to listen, you know, wherever you're already on, make sure to check to see if you can leave a rating
8:07
I know Audible and Spotify and Apple allow you to post reviews or ratings
8:12
So that really does help out in terms of helping people discover the podcast
8:16
so if you have a moment after this episode or while you're listening to it if you could leave
8:21
a review and rating it would be extremely appreciated and it really is encouraging to
8:27
hopefully find new people through this platform I know right now a lot of people listening are
8:31
people that you know already watch me on YouTube or you know maybe even Twitch but I would love to
8:35
find a new audience of podcast listeners and hopefully I'm doing a good enough job to keep
8:40
people around I appreciate all feedback you know even if it is you know something I can improve on
8:44
I absolutely love that. So I would love to hear what you guys think of the show so far and what you want to see in it in this next year
8:51
All right, let's go ahead and give this 12-year castor at the nose. Okay, it's similar, but there's a lot more brightness to it
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And I think that's also being impacted by the proof. It's definitely reaching my nose hairs a little bit quicker
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Whereas the regular 12-year at 100 proof was a lot more of those nutty and those oaky notes
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This one is a little bit more bright, more fruity. I almost want to say tannic, but I think that's really just the proof because, I mean, again
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there's a big difference in that on the nose. So before I judge this too harshly, I'm going to have to give it a taste
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So cheers and thank you again, Brian and Tammy, for sending the sample. Oh, man
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Oh, it's just bringing back all those memories of those older Knob Creek single barrels I've
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had over the years. Again, really fruity and a lot more bright than the regular 12
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I think it has not necessarily, I mean, I want to say more complex, but the complexity
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is different it's not like those darker notes they're still there of course um but there's a
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lot more going on at the front of the palette than i think was on the small batch or the regular 100
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proof i didn't have another sip of that one yeah it's definitely a thinker i think it has like a
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layer of um what i would i guess associate with like kind of like a dusty kind of note at the
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beginning of the palette um of course not in a negative way definitely in a positive way and then
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it gets sweet and i don't get strawberry very often on a bourbon but there's like a brighter
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red fruit up front and it's not cherry it's definitely like sweet and juicy and the first
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thing that comes to mind to me is strawberry which is really interesting i don't think i've ever got that note on a knob creek and then the mid palette definitely goes towards that wood note
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now i feel like this is a little less um i guess saturated as the 100 proof for me this one is a
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lot more it's leaning more towards the lighter maybe a little bit more of the younger oak which
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you know can be very very negative on a really young whiskey this is obviously a 12 year age
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whiskey so it's definitely been in the barrel for a while it's just the way that the barrel um
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interacts with it is a lot more um bright I guess I would say than the darker richer uh notes that
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I was getting on the regular 12. Still though with those bright notes it's kind of reminding me a bit
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of like an Elijah Craig barrel proof for me those don't really go as dark and rich and oaky as like
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a knob creek does to me those are more deserty and this has those deserty notes like I said that
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strawberry it like a strawberry pastry however I feel like the finish on this doesn quite linger in the way that the 100 proof one does which is crazy to me because again it 120 proof Let me have another sip of the
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regular 100 proof just to, I guess, solidify that statement because I mean, that seems crazy to me
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Let's see if it's true. Okay, going back to the 100 proof after drinking this 120 proof
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they are a lot more similar than I thought. I think there was a note that I was lingering onto
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the cast strength one, that brighter, fruitier note. And now that I go back to the 100 proof
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It's there, but it's definitely, you know, behind the oakiness that I was getting on
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you know, the dominant flavor of the 100 proof. However, side by side, these are very, very similar
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So you do get a little bit of a kick from that extra proof. However, I feel like the finish, you know, the overall experience, you know, how long
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it lingers on the mouth is very similar between the two. And that's crazy to me because one of these is a $60 bourbon and the other is $90
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So $30 more, same age statement. One is just castor, the one's 100 proof
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But the difference between the two is a lot less than I thought, which is great for me because, like I said, I can't find the Cast Strength anywhere
12:08
But both of these are just absolutely delicious bourbons, and I'm so glad to have tried the Cast Strength version
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It's delicious. But knowing that it's similar enough to the 100 Proof version makes me feel a little less left out
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And I'll definitely be buying another backup of the 100 Proof if I see it
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Because even at $60, which is, you know, more expensive than the single barrel picks of it
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or even the non-picks, the single barrel nine-year knob creeks, it is more expensive
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But I think there's a lot going on here that those extra few years of age really brings out
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And, I mean, both exceptional. I would buy both of them. But the fact that I can't get the cast strength makes me a little less sad now that I've tried it side-by-side
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Because that 100-proof version is absolutely delicious. And a winner at $60
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Now, I do want to mention, end of last year, a label for an 18-year-old Knob Creek was
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filed with the TTP. There's not much known about this in terms of when we're actually getting it
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It says limited edition on it, so I'm not sure in terms of availability
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It is 100 proof, just like this small batch 12-year I'm drinking here. MSRP on this is said to be $150
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I know, that's really high, right? um i know elijah craig 18 year is you know probably msrp similar to that probably even
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higher i think that's like 180 honestly um but again availability on that one good luck finding
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a bottle um so that's gonna be a tough one to pull the trigger on especially now that i've tried
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the 15 year um that was also at 100 proof and that was a hundred dollars i think that one wasn't
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worth it honestly it's been a minute since i've had that so i don't remember exactly what i didn't
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love about it um i actually bought a whole bottle of it i went through a whole bottle and i still
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didn't love it by the end of that so i mean i'll honestly probably buy a bottle of the 18 year if i
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do see it i would love to i mean obviously for the show right um that gives me more reason to buy it
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but at the same time i'm like oh that is pricey but how often are you gonna get a chance to get
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an 18 year old bourbon especially from my you know one of my top three distilleries that i that i love
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so I'll definitely buy one and give it a try fingers crossed it's better than the 15 year
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but we really don't know until we try it so I'll keep you guys updated as soon as I hear about that
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actually coming out I will try to get my hands on a bottle but also let you guys know to be on the hunt for it
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so keep an eye out because Nog Creek just continues to kill it like I said favorite label of whiskey
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I look forward to every release they put out so like I said pretty light on news
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there are a couple of other whiskeys that have gotten TTB label filings
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Thanks to our friend Cumming Whiskey on Instagram. If you're not yet following Cumming Whiskey, please do, because this is where I get a lot of my information in terms of upcoming releases
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He kind of stalks the TTV filing website and posts the latest updates there
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Two of these that I just saw are actually really exciting. One of them is Still Austin's 100% Rye Whiskey
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They're calling it The Artist. so i actually had the opportunity to try this at cast strength at the distillery
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when i was there in september and it's really good guys like they are proofing it down to 49.8
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abv so 99.6 proof for the official release but what they're doing with this rye whiskey is very
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very exciting it's very different from other rye whiskeys they distill it on site so it's definitely
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a different style of rye than you know your typical 95.5 mgp rye the thing i remember the
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most is it takes on a lot more earthiness it's less of those bright you know grassy kind of notes
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and more of this really rich dense um rye bread so they are coming out with an official release of
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this like i said the ttb label has been filed the artwork on it is beautiful uh you're seeing the
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artist actually painting the red bird which has kind of become their symbol um you see across
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their bourbons so this is one i'm absolutely so excited for i would love to have chris from still
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austin come back on my channel to talk about this release i know we kind of teased it when i had him
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on last time but yeah keep an eye out for more updates from still austin like i said they've
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sent me uh their previous bottles for a live stream so hopefully hopefully fingers crossed
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to get my hands on a bottle of the 100 rye whiskey because it's absolutely delicious from
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my memory at the distillery now that's you know not the official bottling that was edcast strength
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so we'll see how it actually turns out once they actually bottle it so but i'm very excited for it
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speaking of rye whiskeys there is another ttb label filing for uncle nearest rye so if you're
16:33
not familiar with Uncle Nearest it is a fantastic story about digging into the history of African
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Americans involvement with whiskey making distilling and the true story of Jack Daniels it an absolutely incredible brand what they doing there is awesome I actually just had a pour of their I think it the 1856 I had it over Christmas holiday and it really solid stuff
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It's actually one of my favorite Tennessee distilleries out there just in general
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But they are having an Uncle Nearest Rye Whiskey, which is released at 93 Proof
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And what's really, really interesting about this one is on the back label they say
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the funny thing about Tennessee is for all our stunning farms and incredible farmers
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We can't grow rye worth a damn. They basically say that the rye, you know, doesn't grow well in Tennessee soil or the climate
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So they said they had to go out and find the best rye whiskey and bring it back to Tennessee to rest in our Uncle Nearest barrels
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So when you hear that, the first thing you think of, it's probably like, oh, of course, they're going to go to Indiana, just like everyone goes to Indiana
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But no, they said, where do we finally find it? New York, baby
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So they are actually bringing in New York rye whiskey and they are aging it on site at Uncle Nearest
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I don't have any experience with rye whiskey from New York. I'm not actually sure which distillery is even making this
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If you know, make sure to let me know over on Discord. I don't have much experience with New York distilleries
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I'm very excited to learn more. So this one's got me really excited
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I love trying new styles of rye. Rye is one of my favorite categories
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I feel like I talk about it a lot on here, but I feel like most people just, you know, assume I mainly like bourbon
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I do. Of course, bourbon's still my first love. But rye whiskey can be really interesting, especially when you start looking at finishings
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and different unique things to do with the barrels. Rye whiskey takes on so much more depth and flavor from outside sources
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whether it's finishing or toasting the barrel. So I'm really, really excited to see what New York rye whiskey tastes like
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So keep an eye out for that. Like I said, don't know when it's coming out. The TTB label was filed
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It's just called Uncle Nearest Rye. So before I go, I do want to take a minute to talk about some of the games I've been enjoying lately
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One of the games that I talked about on the podcast, I was talking about the Game Awards
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this was the one that actually won game of the year and also best multiplayer game it's called
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it takes two um i hadn't heard about it at the time of recording that podcast but um our patreon
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and discord member uh the bourbon noob actually recommended i pick it up so i did and my husband
18:50
and i have been loving that game it is basically like a pixar movie turned into a video game but
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it's really challenging like the story is so engaging but the actual puzzles and stuff you
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have to solve you really do rely on the second player so definitely not a single player game but
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if you have someone i believe they have local co-op um like on the couch but they also have
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online co-op so if you have a friend that has the game um and you guys want to play together that's
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possible we have it on playstation 5 um but man we have absolutely been enjoying the heck out of
19:19
that game we haven't beat it we keep thinking we're getting close to the end you know we keep making progress and getting closer and closer to rose who is our daughter the goal of the game is
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to reconnect with your daughter you basically are a struggling couple that are going through
19:32
a divorce so they say they're going through a divorce and they get turned into dolls so you
19:37
have to work together as a team to get your daughter's attention and get transformed back
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into humans i don't know what happens at the end so no spoilers but uh i'm so engaged in this game
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we've been playing it literally every night for the past week so i'm so excited to get back into
19:50
it maybe we'll beat it tonight i don't know i don't know how long we have to go like i said i keep thinking we're going to beat it and we don't because there's so much more to this story
19:56
But definitely if you have someone to play with Definitely pick up It Takes Two
20:00
It's just an absolutely fantastic game Another game I bought while it was on sale
20:03
Was the Hot Wheels Unleashed game That was another one that I talked about
20:08
On my Black Friday episode It was basically on sale at the same prices
20:11
Of the Black Friday during the Steam Winter Sale But that game is such a fun casual game
20:18
I played the classic Hot Wheels PC games Back during my childhood
20:23
This is definitely very reminiscent of that However, it is definitely updated with the latest graphics
20:28
I mean, literally the cars get little scratches on them when you do a race. It's so realistic
20:33
But it's also not overly realistic where you don't have fun with it. You have to worry about shifting gears and stuff like that
20:38
It's very much toy cars. So you definitely have to suspend your realism in some aspects
20:46
But I love racing games like that. I haven't played online yet. I've just played the story mode
20:50
I'm not very far into it. But I've had a ton of fun with it. I've actually streamed it a couple times on Twitch
20:54
So if you want to see me play that, just head to twitch.tv slash bourbonbites for more gaming streams
21:00
I do those randomly, not necessarily certain times of the week. I'm trying to do them more on Saturdays, of course, during my normal time
21:07
But I also want to start doing a pre-gaming stream, which I've done a couple times
21:11
But I would love to pre-game, get it pre-game, on Twitch before my Thursday night lives over on YouTube
21:18
I'm not sure if I'll do that this week, but it's a lot of fun to do it
21:22
It's just a lot of times when I have a guest on, I have to be very prepared for that. So I don't get as much time to play a little bit before, especially because I'm also literally eating dinner right before going live
21:31
So I don't really have much time most Thursdays. But when I get a chance to do it, it's tons of fun
21:35
And I feel like it helps hype me up for the actual stream. So if you are interested in things like that, make sure to follow me on Twitch
21:40
But I think that does it for this week's episode. Thank you all for listening. If you have any topic ideas or news stories you want to share, make sure to share them over on our Discord server
21:48
You go to bourbonbites.com and scroll to the bottom. there will be a link to the Whiskey and Gaming Lounge Discord server
21:54
Everyone's welcome there. We have a Whiskey News channel where you can share all the latest news
21:57
as well as an arcade channel for video game news. So thank you all so much. This has been Bourbon Bites
22:02
Cheers, and I'll talk to you next episode
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