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Little Book Chapter 4 Review, The Walking Dead Irish Whiskey, and a Pappy Van Winkle Giveaway
May 17, 2026
Today I'm reviewing Freddie Noe's 2020 addition to the Little Book series from Jim Beam, Chapter 4: Lesson's Honored. I'm also talking about The Sexton's new limited edition The Walking Dead Irish Single Malt Whiskey, a Pappy Van Winkle Bourbon and Rye Whiskey Raffle supporting Make a Wish Foundation and Champ Camp, and an epic retro video game find that could be worth millions of dollars! Video Game Store Closes 1994 Inventory Found 27 Years Later Factory Sealed SNES Sega Genesis Saturn (The Game Room): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s8QBSK-kRRQ 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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Today on the Bourbon Bites Podcast, I'm reviewing Little Book Chapter 4, talking about how you
0:05
can win the full Pappy Van Winkle lineup, and sharing the story of a local video game
0:09
store that uncovered hundreds of video games that have been locked away for 27 years
0:23
Hello everyone and welcome to episode number 20 of the Bourbon Bites Podcast, a very big
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milestone in this relatively new endeavor of mine. So I thought I would celebrate by drinking
0:33
a whiskey that came out in 2020 that I never had a chance to review. So today I'm reviewing Little
0:39
Book Chapter 4. This is Lessons Honored. So if you're not aware, Little Book is the limited
0:45
edition release from Freddie Noe at Jim Beam, one of my favorite distilleries. And this is the
0:50
fourth release since he launched that series. So this one I've been so anxious to try because it
0:56
is a blend of several different whiskeys and one of these is a four-year-old Kentucky Straight
1:01
brown rice bourbon. So they used brown rice as the secondary grain to that bourbon. There's also
1:07
an eight-year-old high rye rye whiskey and a seven-year-old Kentucky Straight bourbon. So
1:12
it's a really interesting blend of three different mash bills and styles of whiskey. I just can't
1:18
wait to see how this turned out. Now this retailed for $125 which is in line with the other little
1:24
books. I know when it first came out, those were closer to $80. They have gone up since. So $125
1:29
is MSRP. I know I've seen it on the shelves, and I've seen it for that price, but I was a little
1:35
hesitant to buy it. So this sample comes to us, again, from our friend, the Bourbon Noob, Patrick
1:40
and Heather Starkey. Thank you so much for sending this in. I've been wanting to try it since I heard
1:45
about it, and I'm glad to finally have my chance to try it. So why not on my 20th episode? So let's
1:50
go ahead and get this poured. Let it open up a bit as I tell you a little bit more about Lessons
1:54
Honored. So according to bourbon legend Freddie Noe, he says, this year's release is an ode to my
1:59
dad and the lessons he has passed down to me about bourbon and life, all of which I hope to pass down
2:04
to my own children. Of course, he's talking about his dad, Fred Noe, who was the son of Booker Noe
2:10
So it all stays in the family there. Freddie is the newest generation of distillers from the Noe
2:16
family. He goes on to say that his father taught him how to be his true self, which is something
2:21
that's very important to their family, and to know when to slow down and be patient. He said
2:26
Dad's values carry over into our whiskey brands, and I'm proud to honor him with this special blend
2:31
So let's talk about the blend. So this has a brown rice bourbon in it, which is actually
2:35
Freddie Knows' first solo distillation. So this was the first project he worked on at Gembeam
2:41
It does make up a majority of the blend. And what's interesting is rice takes a lot longer
2:46
to ferment than corn or other grains that you use for whiskey. It says that there's a fermentation
2:50
period of two to three weeks compared to like, you know, two to three days in most bourbon. So that
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goes back to the fact that his dad taught him patience and to slow down and take your time with
3:00
these because they could be really special. They also say that they added the high rye whiskey to
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reminisce on the first commemorative release that both Fred and Freddie worked on together
3:09
Booker's Rye, which I have had the pleasure of trying a couple of times in my life. I've done
3:15
it on my YouTube channel if you want to see that review go check that out that's just it's just a
3:18
magical bottle so it's a 65% rye it's higher than any other Jim Beam whiskey since Booker's Rye
3:25
so that gets me excited that makes me feel like you know maybe there's going to be some hints of
3:30
Booker's Rye in here if so I'm 100% here for it because it's a delicious whiskey and lastly is a
3:36
seven-year-old Kentucky straight bourbon it's a younger cast strength version of Knob Creek which
3:41
is Fred No's favorite flavor profile. So this is a culmination of all of those different parts of
3:47
Freddy's journey in whiskey making and paying a tribute to his father and his legacy. So let's go
3:52
ahead and get into the nosing of this whiskey. So this one comes in at 122.8 proof, which is pretty
3:58
high for a Gembeam product. Not quite as high as some Booker's releases, but still relatively high
4:04
let's go and give it a nose oh on the nose this is a lovely i am such a big fan of jim beam as a
4:12
distillery all of their you know from bookers to knob creek to bakers to even jim beam single
4:17
barrel i just think they constantly knock it out of the park with that nutty oaky flavor profile
4:22
this is no exception and i'm really curious to see how that rice whiskey affects this so let's
4:27
going to give it a taste cheers oh that is hot oh wow well once i get past the initial burn of it
4:35
it is really really sweet and interesting so i have had other rice whiskeys i actually did a stream
4:41
with some representatives from impex beverages we did fukuno and ohishi japanese whiskey those are
4:47
both rice whiskeys almost said rye whiskey so i've had some experience with that of course those
4:52
are a lot softer they're lower proof this is definitely you know not just the rice whiskey
4:57
however I do think it is adding an element of I want to say softness but this isn't a soft whiskey
5:02
this is a hot whiskey but there's a certain like mellowness to the sweetness that when it first
5:07
hits your tip of your tongue it's almost like a like powdered sugar kind of just like very easy
5:13
going not harsh and not spicy but it really does open up once you get past that but don't let that
5:19
fool you I mean this is a big bold intense whiskey I do think the oak does
5:24
show up a good bit on the end of it it gets that wood spice that I love about a
5:28
good knob creek I think it hits you so hard with that intense start to it that the finish feels a little bit lackluster compared to how big this was at first In terms of being able to pull out the high rye that in this
5:42
there is a bit of like a cinnamon spice that may be how that rye is expressing itself. I just think
5:48
that the other components of this kind of, I don't want to say take away from that, but it doesn't
5:52
really highlight the rye. It's definitely not a Booker's rye replacement, which I mean, I could
5:56
have hoped but it's definitely got some interesting characteristics that I could see are reminiscent
6:02
of that I did get a lot of that like cinnamon spice on the booker's rye it kind of starts with
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that cinnamon spice but then it kind of goes into like a baked um you know some kind of cinnamon
6:10
peach kind of cobbler thing there's a lot of stone fruits there that really show up mid-palate
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I do feel like the finish does have something going for it but I feel like it's so impacted
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by how hot this is I would like to try this not at castor I know like who who is cliffy right now
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but I just think there's a lot going on I think the heat of this kind of overshadows what could
6:32
be a really delicate a really uh unique tasting product I just think it burns so much that this
6:38
needs a little drop of water so I haven't done that yet on the podcast but I'm gonna add some
6:41
water to this and uh come back to it all right so I've added quite a few drops of water to this
6:46
I think it really needs a lot of it to tone it down we'll see though maybe it's better at cast
6:50
strength you know I love experimenting and I encourage you guys to do it too at home I will
6:54
say the nose is a lot more approachable now. I think at first it was just so hot that I wasn't
6:58
able to find much more beyond that typical Knob Creek kind of nuttiness, oakiness. I think that
7:04
lightness and that sweetness that I was getting on the start of the palate is definitely expressing
7:09
itself on the nose now. I don't think it smells super fruity, even though I do get like that peach
7:13
thing going on mid-palate, but the sweetness really does shine. So I'm gonna go in and give
7:18
it a taste with the water. Huh. Believe it or not, I think I pretty much nailed it. That drink's
7:23
like an 80 or 85 proof whiskey or something definitely less spicy it's the cinnamon is what
7:29
it is so i think when cinnamon is that strong maybe i'm just interpreting it as like just alcohol burn
7:34
but no that's not cinnamon note it's like kind of like a red hot candy a little bit at the front of
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the palate and then it tapers off into like a sweet confectionery like um i'm still getting
7:43
that peach it's like it's more of like a ripe peach versus like a cooked peach that i was getting
7:47
earlier um the oak is kind of drowned out by the water literally um so the finish doesn't really
7:54
still doesn't really do too much for me but i do think adding water to this one makes it a whole
7:59
new experience so i'm gonna have to start doing this if y'all want me to do that more often with
8:03
cast strength whiskey let me know because i i'm really bad about not doing that because i typically
8:07
enjoy cast strength usually cast strength doesn't like burn me that much which is what's interesting
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and i you know what i even had some bookers earlier tonight that didn't have as much of a
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burning impact as this does and this is only 122 proof i think the bookers i was drinking earlier
8:20
was 126 so it definitely hits you up front with the spice i think it's a little overwhelming i
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think the finish is a little underwhelming so i'm going to start giving these ratings um i i've done
8:30
it on my most recent live streams on youtube i have my scoring system out of eight um because i
8:35
love eight bit everything uh it's kind of my brand uh so out of eight i would have to give this
8:41
compared to you know like knob creek and bookers things that are a little more accessible easier to
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get. I really feel like this is a solid five out of eight. It's a little bit, it's better than
8:51
average. It's definitely not a bad pour. I just think they're kind of like, maybe they over
8:55
complicate it with these three different types of whiskey they put into this, or maybe they just
8:59
you know, released it in the wrong proof. I don't know. But it was very, very good. And thank you
9:04
again, Patrick, for sharing with me. I always love trying limited releases from every distillery
9:08
but particularly the ones that I love, like Jim Beam and Heaven Hill. I do think I like Chapter
9:13
four better than chapter two which is the one that had the 40 year old Canadian whiskey in it
9:17
I think to me that one was a little just kind of like it was a little disappointing honestly
9:21
um but one was great three was great three was my favorite for sure um but four kind of falls
9:27
in between you know like it's about tie with one I would say so definitely let me know if you guys
9:31
have tried this I think it's complex but maybe a bit too complex I think it's got a lot going on
9:36
but uh thank you again Patrick I'm so excited to have tried this but let's get on to some news for
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the week. I actually had a lot of news stories that I wanted to feature. Some of these I might save for next week. I don't want to run too long, especially with that review of the little book. I
9:50
really wanted to get my point across about how complex it was, but intense. So the first piece
9:56
of news I have here is there will be a new Walking Dead whiskey collaboration. So if you remember a
10:02
couple years ago, there was a whiskey released called Spirit of the Apocalypse. It was Walking
10:07
Dead themed it was not disclosed who distilled it it was a bourbon and I think that retail on it
10:12
was $40 but it quickly dropped I picked up two bottles for 12 bucks each one I put in storage
10:17
because I'm hoping it's going to be worth something in the future the other I drank and for a $12 bottle it's not bad at all now for the $40 I thought it was kind of like this is way overpriced
10:25
it's definitely paying just for the name however this new one sounds really interesting so this is
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actually a collaboration with sexton irish whiskey uh so sexton is a single malt irish whiskey you've
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probably seen it in those black hexagon shaped bottles it's very prominent on the shelves but
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this new one is going to look even cooler so this one is actually tied to a specific cast member of
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the walking dead ross marquand i think his name is who plays aaron now i'm not going to lie to you
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I haven't watched Walking Dead since like season three, so I don't really know this character
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But he seems to be a Irish whiskey fanatic, which is always a good thing
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So he says that after visiting Ireland several years ago he developed a deep appreciation for the country and special whiskey like Sexton that made there so i like that he not just you know getting the cash grab there he is a fan of irish whiskey actually has been to ireland um to try the whiskey he now going to
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serve as their brand ambassador and this is going to be the official whiskey of the walking dead so
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i don't know what that spirit of the apocalypse thing was maybe it wasn't official but um this
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one's interesting because it's not necessarily a different whiskey it's the same you know sexton
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single malt that we're used to, I say that I haven't tried it, but I need to pick up a bottle
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because it's relatively affordable. It's only $30. Even this special release is only $30
11:43
And take a look at the label here. It does look very zombie-esque. It looks like it's kind of
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rustic, like it's kind of rubbed off a little bit. It just says the Sexton X AMC Walking Dead
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Single Malt Irish Whiskey. There's some quotes from the cast members all around it, and it just
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looks really, really like, it's almost like steampunk looking. I mean, the bottle itself
12:02
is pretty steampunk inspired, I would say. But it looks super nice
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I would love to bring that out for, like, Halloween or something. Especially if you're a Walking Dead fan
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Like I said, I haven't watched it in years. So I'm going to definitely seek out at least one bottle
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probably a second one to put with that other Spirit of the Apocalypse, just in case, you know, Walking Dead in, like, 50 years is, like, a massive thing
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Like, oh, I remember that show. But I think it's a really cool collaboration
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This should be available at retail, but you can pre-order it at Reserve Bar starting this week
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So just head over there if you want to make sure you get your hands on it. But I have a feeling this is going to stick around in stores for a while
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I know that Walking Dead does have a ton of hype around it, but that's Spirit of the Apocalypse set on shelves forever
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So we'll see. But I'm definitely going to grab one or two of these for sure. So next piece of whiskey news is actually something that excites me because it's very related to a guest that I've had on my YouTube channel recently
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So there is a new bourbon experience coming to Whiskey Road that will let you blend your own bourbon
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bourbon. So if you guys remember over on YouTube, I had the folks from Dexter and Brain Brew Custom
13:05
Whiskey on my channel talking about their whiskey blending experience. Well, now they've kind of
13:10
franchised the idea, and this new location is going to be called Barrels and Billets, and it's
13:15
going to be in downtown Louisville. So this one's owned by the same guy that owns the Louisville
13:19
Slugger Museum, which is actually next door. So Billets actually refers to the pieces of wood that
13:24
are used to make baseball bats. Didn't know that until I had to look that up. But this is a really
13:29
cool experience. Like I said, if you missed the stream, go watch that because I actually made my own whiskey that they blended for me. So basically, they give you six different combinations of
13:37
bourbon that have been finished with different types of oak, including a 200-year-old oak
13:41
European oak, American oak, cherry wood, maple, and smoked oak. So I did it virtually. So I did a
13:47
survey online, picked my flavor profiles, and they blended it for me, shipped me a bottle
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But you can do this, you know, one of three different ways. You can do a one-hour blending experience on site where you get to experiment, you know, find what you really like
14:00
And you can also do, like I said, the virtual one, they call it an artificial intelligent
14:03
bourbon wizard, or you can do a at home blending kit. But basically, once you have decided on your
14:10
blend, you can actually purchase a custom blend bottle with your name on it that runs for about
14:16
$45. So it's a very affordable experience. I think the actual custom blending is about $35
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You do have to make reservations beforehand at the Louisville location. But, you know, $35 for a one-hour class on bourbon blending, combining these different, you know, wood finishes
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and getting to come home with a souvenir bottle for just $45. I think that's such a fun experience
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It's definitely going to add to the whole Louisville, you know, bourbon tourism industry
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I think it's something that I would absolutely do in person. I did it virtually for Dexter and Brain Brew
14:46
But next time in Louisville, I'm definitely going to hit up Barrels and Billets. So they are now open
14:50
So you guys go check out their site if you have a chance to go to Louisville
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Let me know how it is. Let me know if it's fun in person. I'm sure it is. Just the fact that you could experiment and blend and find your perfect combination
15:02
And then, you know, take it home and share. And the final piece of bourbon news I have here is a chance to win six rare bottles of Pappy and Old Rip Van Winkle whiskey
15:12
So check this out. Make-A-Wish Foundation in Ohio, Kentucky, and Indiana, as well as an organization called Champ Camp
15:18
are doing a fundraiser where they are trying to raise $400,000 for their organization
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So Champ Camp is kind of like a collaborative organization with Make-A-Wish
15:28
They offer a summer camp experience to kids that wouldn't normally have that opportunity
15:32
whether they're having medical issues or going through treatments. It gives them that real summer camp experience
15:38
So they're hoping to use this money to make a wheelchair-accessible treehouse for campers on site
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as well as other Make-A-Wish life-changing wishes that happen all the time
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I love that organization. So they're only selling 4,000 tickets total. They're selling them for $100 each
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So basically, you have a 1 in 4,000 chance just by buying one ticket, which is pretty
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good odds if you ask me. So there will only be one winner, but that winner will receive a Pappy Van Winkle 23
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20, and 15, a Van Winkle Special Reserve Lot B, 12-year, Old Rip Van Winkle 10-year
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and one that is kind of my unicorn bottle, Van Winkle Family Reserve Rye, 13-year
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So there's only going to be one winner. Like I said, one in 4,000 chance. Of course, you can buy multiple tickets and improve your odds there
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But what a great cause. I mean, they've already raised over $100,000 as of the time I'm recording this
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If you guys do want to donate to that, you can go to donate.onecause.com slash pappy
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That's one cause spelled out. O-N-E-C-A-U-S-E. So switching gears over to the gaming twist that I always like to throw onto my podcasts and streams
16:43
First of all happy 35th birthday to the game Contra you know the famous konami game that invented the Konami cheat code that we all know and love I made a little tribute post over on my Facebook page but I have not had a chance to
16:56
I started streaming that game, man, that was probably about a year ago now
17:00
Didn't get too far. I'm very bad at it. I never claimed to be good at video games
17:04
I just enjoy them. So I'm going to have to pick that up, especially in honor of its birthday. That was on February 20th when that was actually celebrated
17:10
But I thought it was pretty cool. And I had to mention it because, I mean, I love celebrating anniversaries and birthdays in gaming and whiskey
17:17
But speaking of old games, check out this news story that comes to us from Omaha, Nebraska
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Bet you didn't believe I'd have a story from Nebraska, did you? Shout out to Scott Pigsley, although he didn't send me this story, but he's our Nebraska friend
17:30
So apparently hundreds of rare, unopened, mint-conditioned video games were found in storage in Nebraska that could be worth millions of dollars
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So like I said, this comes to us from Omaha. There's a video game store called The Game Room there
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And apparently an anonymous person came to him with a few different games, you know, trying to get the values on them
17:50
And he realized how rare these games were. He's like, oh my god, how did you get this
17:54
And the guy was like, oh, well, there's a lot more where that came from. Turns out there's a storage locker that's been sealed for over 27 years that contained a bunch of new video games that came from an old video game store that had closed down in the mid-90s
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So we're talking hundreds of unopened Super Nintendo, Sega Genesis, and other extremely rare games
18:15
We're just sitting in a storage unit somewhere. If you didn't know, a lot of these unopened Super Nintendo games go for thousands and thousands of dollars
18:23
I see them all the time, you know, selling on eBay. One of the biggest finds from this is a sealed copy, or maybe several sealed copies, I don't know for sure
18:30
but it's a copy of Chrono Trigger, which is a 1995 RPG for Super Nintendo
18:35
know one of the biggest ones that kind of set that genre um this is an incredible find they say it's
18:40
kind of basically like the holy grail of a retro video game find just to give you some perspective
18:45
that game alone just the cartridge you know in average condition sells for about 300 dollars
18:50
but this is unopened in the original box and that i've seen that go for thousands upwards of two
18:56
thousand dollars um and even higher depending on you know how they grade it i don't know the full
19:01
scale of retro video games like the grading and everything I know there's a huge market for it
19:06
but they got really excited about that one and there's a lot more where that came from
19:10
they uploaded a video on their youtube channel I skimmed over it I'm seeing a lot of games that I
19:15
know and love including Street Fighter Mortal Kombat Sunset Riders also speaking of Contra
19:20
they have Contra Hardcore for Sega Genesis have not played that one I thought that was kind of
19:25
funny that I was also going to mention the birthday on this podcast they also have Ninja
19:29
turtles turtles in time which is one of my favorite uh super nintendo era games they also had final
19:35
fantasy some x-men games tons of sports games i mean this is literally just hundreds of unopened
19:41
super nintendo games so they haven't gone through everything yet and the the person that has the
19:45
collection is still remaining anonymous we don't know for sure if they're planning to sell all
19:49
these or they're going to keep them what they're going to do with them but they are predicting that this could be worth millions of dollars in total so it kind of makes you think you know like you
19:57
Our childhood, we had so many toys and video games like that that we just threw away the boxes or didn't keep the booklets
20:03
Because we were kids, right? We just cared about playing the game or playing with a toy. But there's so many collectors out there now that you could make some big bucks if we had just left them sealed
20:12
Which, of course, toys are meant to be played with. Games are meant to be played. I 100% believe that
20:16
But if we had the mindset to maybe buy two copies of something, one to play and one to keep in a storage unit somewhere, hopefully not forgotten about
20:24
just think about your original you know furby or even you know some game consoles if you never
20:28
opened it i mean it's really easy to think back you know what if i would have done this i mean
20:32
you know what if i would have bought bitcoin you know 10 years ago we always have some regrets
20:36
there but i'm really excited to see what comes with this hopefully you know this guy makes some
20:39
money because again it is in his collection he does own these titles um and hopefully this you
20:44
know can not just be a win for him but a win for the history of video games i mean some of these
20:49
games they don't even know if there are other copies of these that are unopened out there so
20:53
This is like a full-on retail packaging. Some of them even have the hang tags for where you would hang them in a retail store
20:59
It's crazy. You'll have to check out that video. I'll put the link to it in the description of this podcast if you want to go see that
21:04
It's not the best quality video. They're definitely really bad with their camera work when they're trying to show you the finds
21:10
But that was just scratching the surface of all of these video games. I'm very curious to see the follow-up of this
21:15
But with that, I think this wraps up this special 20th episode of the Bourbon Bites podcast
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thank y'all for listening for these first 20 episodes i believe now i'm not sure i'm not gonna
21:25
i'm not gonna jinx anything but after putting out this episode i think we will hit the 1000
21:30
downloads mark so i'm just gonna assume that by the time you're listening to this you're helping
21:35
me reach that so thank you i would have never imagined i would have a thousand listens within
21:40
you know just a few months of doing this not even you know not even six months at this point
21:44
i hope to continue to grow the podcast i'm having so much fun with it hopefully you are too if you
21:49
are make sure to leave me a rating uh wherever you get your podcasts whether it's spotify
21:53
apple podcasts or if not just continue to listen it really does mean a lot to me that you guys uh
21:58
come to listen to me every week not just on youtube but on these podcasts so thank you but
22:02
until next time this has been bourbon bites whiskey reviews with a gaming twist i'm clifton
22:07
cheers and i'll talk to you next episode
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