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Old Forester Single Barrel Rye Review & How to Get Your Friends to Drink Whiskey
May 17, 2026
Do you have friends who aren't whiskey drinkers? Today I'm giving you some tips on how to ease them into sipping bourbon and whiskey neat! Because drinking whiskey with friends is always more fun than drinking alone. I'm also tasting and reviewing Old Forester Single Barrel Barrel Strength Rye sent to me by a listener of the podcast. 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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0:00
Today on the Bourbon Bites podcast, I'm reviewing Old Forrester Barrel Strength Rye and giving you some tips on how to get your friends into whiskey
0:18
Hello everyone and welcome to the Bourbon Bites podcast. I'm your host Clifton and today I thought I would start us off with a rye review because I haven't had much rye whiskey on the podcast in a while
0:28
So don't know why that is. I love rye whiskey. So I'm getting into the sample of Old Forrester
0:34
single barrel barrel strength rye. This comes from a listener of the show, Steve Burkow
0:38
gave me the sample from his bottle. This is 126.9 proof. I don't believe these are picks
0:46
As far as I know, I don't think they've done pick versions of the single barrel rye. I have yet to
0:52
actually see a bottle in real life. These were super limited. I feel like the barrel proof bourbon
0:56
was a lot easier to find. I've gotten a couple bottles of that, but the rye, I've practically
1:01
just never seen it. I think I saw it one time marked up to like $150, but I think MSRP on this
1:06
is supposed to be around $80, so I'm definitely not going to pay that, especially without trying
1:10
it, but I figured I will get into this sample for this review. So this is a limited release
1:14
even more so than the bourbon. I know that they really knocked it out of the park with their
1:20
just regular old Forster rye. That one comes in at 100 proof. Very, very affordable, like $22
1:25
bucks I think so this is stepping up a notch it is single barrel and it is barrel proof so
1:30
126.9 that's really I mean for a rye whiskey typically those come in at lower proof even at
1:37
barrel strength so I'm really excited to try this this is their same rye mash bill supposedly as
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their old Forster rye so 65% rye 20% malted barley and 15% corn so it's about a mid-range rye
1:49
definitely not high rye but also not like barely legal rye either so I'm really excited to see how
1:54
this presents itself at this high proof. Let's go and get it poured. Hopefully you guys have had a
2:00
great week and you're going into a fantastic weekend. I know here in Southern California
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it's going to be in the 80s. It's going to be really nice. I'm hoping I can get out to go to
2:08
the beach. I realize that it's Super Bowl weekend. Most people have plans for that. Especially me
2:13
being in Los Angeles, I have no plans. I have no interest in either team. Of course, I would like
2:18
you know, obviously LA to win, but I don't know. I just have not really followed it too much
2:22
not that I ever really do. Sometimes I've been more interested in it than previous years but
2:28
this year I really just don't care. Like I'm sorry if you don't don't unsubscribe to my podcast
2:33
because I don't like football but yeah I just my family was never like a football or even sports
2:39
family in general. I think the only sports games I ever went to growing up were like ice hockey
2:44
with my Boy Scout troop but yeah just so I was not really ever into football. I do like watching
2:49
the halftime performances and the commercials, of course, are always a ton of fun
2:53
But I just, I don't know. I'm not a big Super Bowl guy. But maybe you guys do have big plans and you're going to a party this weekend
3:00
It's kind of why I had this concept for this stream to do a how to get your friends into
3:04
whiskey stream because I know a lot of people are going to either have people over or going to a friend's house
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They want to bring some bottles, but they know their friends, you know, they just do shots or they just do cocktails
3:12
So later in this episode, I'm going to give you some tips on how to help encourage your
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friends to drink whiskey. but for now let's go to give this old forester rye single barrel barrel proof a nose oh wow that's
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really intense on the nose i wasn't expecting it to be so powerful i don't know why not because
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it's obviously barrel strength but it's really uh i guess complex on the nose it starts off with
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like an oaky kind of um aspect to it now i don't know the age on this i know it's probably relatively
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young i know the bourbon was relatively young um but yeah i'm surprised by how much oak is the
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first thing I'm smelling especially on a rye whiskey there's a lot of sweetness there as well
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I feel like there's like a like brown sugar kind of note that's kind of lingering at the at the top
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forefront of the nose of this there's a little bit of like a graininess um you can not necessarily
3:58
tell that it's a rye whiskey but it's it's not you know it doesn't smell young I would say I
4:03
think it smells complex and I just can't wait to get into it so let's go to give it a taste cheers
4:07
guys. Ooh, that is nice. I really am such a fan of rye whiskey. I feel like it doesn't get enough
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love in the whiskey world, but when done right at High Proof, it's just a delicious, delicious pour
4:19
I mean, this one, I actually had a sip of it a couple of weeks ago when I first got this
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and I wasn super impressed with it but I glad that I revisited it today because I really loving the taste on this one It drinks a lot more like a rye whiskey than it smells but it not necessarily grassy or minty in that way or dill as some people would
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say. To me, it's just like a really grain forward but bold flavor. It has like a sweet, like kind of
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like a bubble gum kind of note that lingers like mid palate, and it doesn't, any of the youth that
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I was getting off of the nose of this, I'm definitely not getting on the palate. I think it It drinks like a very nicely aged rye whiskey
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And I see why the demand for this is so high. This is really impressing me more than the single barrel barrel proof bourbon did from Old Forrester
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I'm reminded of all the things I love about the Old Forrester regular 100 proof rye
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But this is definitely amped up to 126.9. I think that this drinks like an $80 rye whiskey
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I could see people paying up to $100 for it. I could see myself doing that
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like i said i saw it once in the store for about 150 i think that's a little more than i would pay
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for it um but i do think this drinks like a really nice high-end rye whiskey and absolutely worth 80
5:32
if you see it so thank you again steve for letting me have the sample if you guys ever want me to
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review something on the show whether it's for the podcast or my live streams you can send me an
5:42
email contact at bourbonbites.com i'll send you my mailing info i would love to do more viewer
5:48
sent samples. I'm kind of going through my backlog of ones that I've had for literal years at this
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point, but it's starting to get a little low. So if you guys are ever interested in sending me
5:57
something and hearing my thoughts on it, or if you want to send me a blind flight for a stream
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that would be a ton of fun. I would absolutely love to do it. So let me know if you are interested
6:06
All right. Well, if you guys are ready to get into it, I want to give you some tips on helping your friends get into whiskey. So if you're like me, not all of your friends are
6:14
alcoholics let's be real no but for real um a lot of my friends they do of course you know drink
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cocktails and you know drink beer but very few of them outside of you know whiskey tube or my local
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whiskey group actually drink whiskey uh so i thought i would come up with a maybe i guess a
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little bit of a guide that will help you help them get into whiskey if they want to of course i guess
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that's the number one rule if they're not even remotely interested in like getting into whiskey
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like don't force that on them don't make that like ruin your relationship don't be like you can only
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be my friend if you can bottle chug some blends i mean but seriously if they are interested in
6:48
learning um you know help them out but ease them into it i think one of the things that's easy to
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do for us because we're so passionate about whiskey is to kind of over complicate it and have way too
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much information that you're throwing at them you know they don't need to know the mash bill of the
7:02
whiskey you're giving them they don't need to know you know if it's non-chill filtered or anything like that i think keeping it simple is the best way to make it approachable because if you make
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it sound like something that they're never going to understand they're going to lose interest very very quickly so don't give them too much info and in the same i guess vein as that don't overwhelm
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them with bottles i mean it's so easy for us to be like oh try this try this oh you gotta try this
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but if there's someone that's new to whiskey they may not be used to having more than one or two
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drinks especially in a short period of time so you want them to remember the experience right so
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you don't want to get them completely drunk where they don't remember a thing so just take it easy
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with the info and the bottles you give them. And most importantly, just be patient with them. Be
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open, you know, drink along with them. Don't make it seem like you're watching them, observing them
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Just make it, you know, approachable and easy. And if they don't like something, you know
7:51
it doesn't mean that they'll never like it. Not that you should, you know, keep trying to force them to. It just means, you know, maybe not then they're not ready for it or they're just not in
7:58
the right mindset to start getting into whiskey. But if you do have someone that is willing to learn, I do have some tips that I think might help you help them get into whiskey. I think the most
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important thing is to find out what kind of drinker they are. You know, are they someone that
8:11
just does shots? Are they someone that typically sips cocktails? Or do they already, you know
8:15
kind of sip whiskey or sip something neat? And I think there's kind of a different approach
8:20
depending on where they are in their alcohol journey. So for your friends that are mostly
8:26
into just taking shots, or you know, that they only really drink beer, I think the most important
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thing is to kind of tell them, you know, how to drink whiskey. You know, I think a lot of people
8:34
will typically just throw it back because that's kind of how they see it done in movies and stuff
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but really diving into I guess the art of sipping you know one of the things that often turns people
8:44
away from drinking whiskey neat is they just don't like the burn so you have to really ease them into
8:48
it what I like to tell my friends to do is like the very first sip just take a little bit and just
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touch it on the tip of your tongue and then just swallow it don't don't think about flavors you
8:56
got to get them used to that higher proof now I not saying give them a barrel proof bourbon definitely don definitely stick to you know the 80 under 90 proof for their first one if they not used to sipping anything either normally just used to doing shots you know for them a shot is like you know 80 80 proof or less you know normally when
9:11
you're mixing in other things and usually they struggle with those so really you got you want
9:15
to make it approachable like i said in the beginning so give them a lower proof whiskey you know let them just get adapted to the proof um and then you know teach them about you know the
9:22
you know kentucky chew you know having sit in your mouth chewing it a bit um and just get them
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used to not just swallowing it immediately because I think that's what a lot of people that are, you know, people that drink shots, that's kind of how they typically drink alcohol
9:34
They're not used to sipping on it and enjoying the flavors. So once you teach them about that, you know, you can start asking them questions, you know
9:39
ask them if they get any flavors off of it. Now, be prepared. Their first note they're probably going to tell you is, wow, that's smooth, which I know
9:47
we all cringe at. But again, they're basing it off of what they've heard. They hear people talk about whiskey being smooth
9:52
So they're going to say, oh, that's smooth. And really, that's just their way of saying like, hey, that didn't burn that time or didn't
9:57
burn as much as I expected. So that's already a good start, even though it sounds a bit cringy
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for those of us that are whiskey drinkers, it's off to a good start. So once you get past that
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maybe kind of throw out a couple flavor ideas, you know, typical, you know, vanilla, caramel
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if they're drinking like a bourbon or something, um, and, and kind of explain to them, like
10:13
it's not that you actually taste these tasting notes, you just kind of are reminded of them
10:18
You try to place like, oh, what does that taste like? Hmm. That tastes like something I've had before. And a lot of times you realize, oh, that's, you know, a piece of chocolate cake or a piece of
10:26
caramel candy. I think that's the easiest way to explain it. And along with that, you know
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let them know there's no wrong answers. You don't want them to feel like, oh, you're putting them on
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the spot and, you know, they're going to say something wrong. Because, I mean, let's be real
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it's all personal. Your tasting notes are your own. We like to share them on podcasts and WhiskeyTube
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just to kind of find something that's maybe familiar with our listeners. But it's all subjective
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so I think you should just encourage them to, you know, speak their mind, tell you what they're
10:51
tasting, even if it's like bubble gum, like I got on this Old Forrester Riot earlier. It's always
10:56
good to be encouraging them and kind of playing off of that. You know, if they give you a certain note, like, oh, yeah, I didn't give it like that, but I got it like this, which is kind of similar
11:02
So I totally see why you got that, you know. So next up, maybe your friends that, you know, maybe are beyond their shot stage of alcohol and they do enjoy really good craft cocktails. Well
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these I think are the easiest people to get into whiskey. I have a couple of friends that that's
11:16
kind of their territory is cocktails. And you can easily ease people into sipping whiskey
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through whiskey spirit forward cocktails. One of my favorites is an old fashioned
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I mean, super simple cocktail to make, but a lot of times bars and restaurants really screw it up
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So they may never have had a legit like good old fashioned
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So if you know they like cocktails, make them an old fashioned using, you know, one of your favorite whiskeys
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Again, nothing super high proof that's going to turn them away from it because they're not going to be used to that
11:44
But yeah, I think a good old fashioned is the gateway into just sipping whiskey neat
11:48
Then once they have an old fashioned and you realize they like it, then maybe just pour them a whiskey on the rocks
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You know, it's going to be not as sweet as their old-fashioned and they're used to. But then you can kind of go back towards the flavor notes
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You know, like, what are you tasting with this? Is it sweet? Is it savory? Is it oaky
12:02
I don't think there's anything wrong with starting them out with whiskey on the rocks if they are a cocktail person
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They're used to the cold experience. They're used to the act of sipping a cocktail glass
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I think that's going to be very familiar to them, and it's not going to scare them off. Lastly, let's say they're someone that is somewhat of a sipper
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You know, they enjoy their Jameson or their Jack Daniels or their McCallum, depending on, you know, what they like
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But someone that is just wants to explore more whiskey, but has very, very limited experience
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These are my favorite people to try to get into different whiskeys because they're already kind of got a head start
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So the first thing that it's important to know is to find out what they like
12:35
You know, if they are a Jameson person, I think you should still stick in that territory, especially at the beginning
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So maybe pick something from the same category. Like let's stick with the Jameson example
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pick, you know, maybe a red breast, maybe a little bit higher end, maybe a little bit higher proof
12:50
and let them try that and gauge their reaction. You know, if it's something that they know they
12:54
like and that you're kind of elevating it a bit, that's going to be the aha moment for them. Like
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wait, it can get better than, you know, my standard whiskey that I drink, you know, at home
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That's what you want. You want them to taste familiar, but like a step above. So once you
13:08
got that, you know, maybe give them a flight of different similar whiskeys. Now, I'm not saying
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Stick exclusively to the type of whiskey that they like Which, I mean, you can
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But I think it'd be fun to, you know, give them a flight Give them, like, one or two other Irish whiskeys
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If they're a Jameson drinker But maybe throw in, you know, a single malt
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Or even, you know, like, a low-proof bourbon You know, maybe they just haven't had a good bourbon yet
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So you can really go off of that But keep it very very tame at first You get a clearer picture of what they actually enjoy And that way you don completely like scare them off with you know a peated whiskey if they a jameson drinker like please don do that and then take it from there i mean i think it everyone has their own journey
13:43
when it comes to whiskey or alcohol and you know if you have someone that you know like yourself
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you know if you listen to this podcast i assume you're at least remotely interested in whiskey i
13:52
mean you might just be here for the video games that's cool too um but still having someone like
13:56
that that's passionate about something as long as you don't go like completely nerding out i think
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if they're really interested in learning about whiskey, they're going to really appreciate having you as a friend
14:04
And just keep it going, you know, not necessarily have to have bourbon tastings with them every
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night, but maybe, you know, let's say they're a co-worker, maybe give them samples, you
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know, obviously not on the clock, but just constantly just give them new things to try
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or if you're at a bar, you know, buy them a pour of something you think they'll like. I think keeping it engaging and keeping it fun is the best part
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You don't want it to seem like, you know, a chore. You don't want to make it seem like a class. I mean, yes, it's educational, but you don't want them to feel like they're in school
14:27
You want them to feel like they're having fun, you know, especially if there's someone that's just used to drinking at parties, make it fun, you know, have fun with it, make it a game
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I mean, honestly, there's so many ways to have fun with it. And as long as you have someone that's
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willing to learn and that wants to really get into it, I think you're gonna have a fantastic time
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But you know what, let's say you don't have any luck, they just are not into it, or you don't have any friends that are interested in getting whiskey. Don't worry, you know, just move on
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let it go. But there's so many ways to meet other people that are into whiskey, especially if you
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don't really have a local group, search on Facebook. I mean, that's how I found a lot of
14:57
local whiskey groups just search for you know your town whiskey club or whiskey society surely
15:02
there's hopefully i mean i don't know i don't know the whole country um but hopefully there's
15:06
something nearby to you even if it's something that you know is a little bit out of the way but you can make the occasional trip to their you know meetups and their uh tasting events all that stuff
15:14
better yet if you have a local distillery just hang out at their bar every now and then go to their special releases you're bound to meet whiskey folks one thing about whiskey drinkers is we love
15:22
the company and we love sharing whiskey i mean hopefully hopefully most people are like that
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That's how I am. I love sharing bottles. I love getting friends to try new things. So this community is very welcoming
15:32
Even if you're a newbie, just reach out. You know, let them know you're new, but you want to learn
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And trust me, we'll take good care of you. And let's say there's nothing available in your area
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And, you know, you search. You can't find your local whiskey groups. There's no distilleries. There's not even a good bourbon bar in your area
15:46
Don't worry. This is exactly why my good friend Vadim put together the Virtual Tasting Society
15:52
He actually started it during COVID when people couldn't gather in person. But what he does is put together these sample kits and sends it, you know, around the country
16:00
Anywhere in the U.S. can order them. And then you get to actually attend a Zoom tasting with brand reps, master distillers, all these incredible guests from the whiskey industry
16:09
And you get to do, like, a Q&A with them. You get to hear them talk about the whiskeys. You know, whether you're a beginner or someone that's super into whiskey like me, I always love those
16:17
So if you are interested in that, go to VirtualTastingSociety.com. It'll redirect you to their Eventbrite page
16:23
Give them a follow. they're always posting new events i think it's every week they do one or two a week
16:28
so make sure you're following them and if you ever see something that interests you sign up if you're local to the southern california area like i am they do have local pickup spots
16:35
around the the area so you can save a little bit money but if you are you know let's say you're in
16:39
florida you can sign up and have it shipped to you so really cool if you don't really have a
16:43
local group or if you just prefer to drink at home definitely check it out virtual tasting
16:48
society.com make sure to let them know that i sent you um not sponsored or anything but he's
16:52
just a good friend of mine and he's really passionate about putting these virtual tastings
16:56
together so go give him a follow but that does it for this week's episode hopefully you learned
17:00
some things about ways to get people into whiskey it's one of my favorite things to do is to introduce
17:04
friends to new whiskey and hopefully introduce you guys by listening along to new things that
17:09
you may not have had a chance to try yet so if you want to be the first to know about the latest
17:13
things i'm reviewing you can join at patreon.com slash bourbon bites for as little as two dollars
17:18
a month you get early access to all my reviews you get to vote in polls that influence my live
17:22
streams. And if you are the higher tiers, you get access to things like our monthly hangout
17:26
our after party hangout, and the Bourbon Bites subscription box where I send you whiskey samples
17:30
every single month and we'll do a small group tasting to taste them, whether they're blind or
17:35
there's like a theme. If that piques your interest, that is the $50 tier, but you get access to all
17:40
the other hangouts and other benefits of the lower tiers. I've been doing that with our friend Todd
17:44
Cooper and we've been having an absolute blast. I always look forward to those monthly tastings
17:48
But thank you all so much for listening. This has been Bourbon Bites. Cheers and I'll talk to you
17:51
next episode
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