Up next in 10
Stagg Jr. Batch 17 Bourbon Review & Huge Acquisitions at Heaven Hill and PlayStation
May 17, 2026
Thanks to a good friend and patron of the show, I have the latest batch of Stagg Jr. to review. Plus, I'm talking about the latest acquisition of Samson & Surrey by Heaven Hill and the acquisition of Bungie Studios by Sony PlayStation. Then, I'm highlighting a few new video games coming out this month, including Horizon Forbidden West, Elden Ring, and The Legend of Zelda: Majora's Mask coming to Nintendo Switch Online. 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)
Show More Show Less View Video Transcript
0:00
On today's episode of the Bourbon Bites podcast, I'm reviewing the last batch ever of Stagg Jr
0:06
Talking about huge acquisitions in the world of bourbon and video games
0:10
And sharing what games I'm most excited to play that are coming out this month
0:22
Hello everyone and welcome to the Bourbon Bites podcast. I'm your host Clifton and this is episode 17 where I am reviewing batch 17 of Stagg Jr
0:32
Which is totally a coincidence so much so that I'm recording this intro after recording the rest of the podcast
0:37
because the entire time I did not make the connection that this is episode 17 batch 17
0:42
But here we have it. So I haven't had a Stagg Jr. since probably batch 12
0:49
They used to be somewhat available in my area. I think for the longest time they were only $50
0:55
They did go up to around $70 or $80, but soon after that, they quickly disappeared, and I
1:00
just have not been able to find a bottle since. So I want to give a huge shout out to a patron of the show, and friend as well, Patrick the
1:08
Bourbon Noob. You guys, go check him out on Instagram. He found this bottle in the wild, and he already had this batch, so he offered it to me
1:15
So thank you so much, Patrick. I'm so glad to finally revisit this whiskey
1:20
Like I said, I haven't had it since batch 12. this is batch 17 and as some of you may know this is the last batch with the name stag jr on the
1:30
label so it's not like this whiskey's going away sorry if it's a bit of the clickbaity title and
1:35
intro but they are removing the junior from the label so batch 18 following this will just be
1:41
called stag bourbon according to their global bourbon brands manager joshua steely they felt
1:47
like the junior kind of took away from the fact that this is a very well-aged bourbon you know
1:52
it's in the eight to nine year age range whereas some people hear junior and they think you know
1:56
young i think they wanted to get rid of that kind of reputation because yes it is younger than
2:00
george t stagg but it's not necessarily a young whiskey or you know a junior whiskey by any means
2:07
so i do understand the reasoning behind that i feel like it could cause some confusion with you
2:12
know stagg and george t stagg but i think whiskey drinkers who are even able to find it at this
2:17
point will know the difference but yeah i think it's pretty cool that i own the last batch of
2:21
stagg jr as we know it but what's even better than owning it is drinking it so let's go to get it
2:25
open wow that was a mighty cork pop sorry headphones users so this latest batch comes in at 128.7 proof
2:38
this was released winter of last year so it's a little bit lower proof than the past few releases
2:44
but 128.7 is still you know relatively high it's not like a drastic difference like um elijah craig
2:49
Barrel Proof did last year. This is still up there. So let's go ahead and give this one a nose
2:54
It's been so long since I've had Stagg Jr. So hopefully I enjoy it as much as I have enjoyed
2:59
the previous batches. Yeah, that nose is so familiar to me, yet so different from what I've
3:05
been drinking a lot of lately. I really haven't drank much Buffalo Trace products much at all over
3:10
the past year or so. I just don't tend to buy it very often because I don't know, usually to me
3:15
I think that the cherry note that's very associated with Buffalo trace whiskeys is a bit too
3:20
I guess artificial or dominant in those younger lower proof releases. I think it really matures very well
3:27
And some of these releases like stag junior or George T stag, where it becomes so
3:31
you know, a lot more delicious of a note than a fake kind of artificial candy cherry So I can tell in the nose this has definitely got that cherry note but I really hoping it keeps that maturity and that depth that really these older releases should bring to that note Let go ahead and give this a taste Cheers Oh wow
3:49
It's been a minute since I've had high proof Buffalo Trace. It also doesn't help that that's
3:53
the first thing I've had to drink today, so it kind of caught me a little off guard, but wow
3:57
is that a big bold bourbon i see now why they want to remove the junior because there's nothing
4:03
junior about this flavor profile it's super rich it's packed with all these great flavors you know
4:09
it's not the artificial cherry it's a very natural cherry flavor that's there and i think it does
4:14
have like a lot of wood backbone kind of supporting that flavor and adding more depth to it it's not
4:19
necessarily overly sweet i think it's really rich and intense um and there is some sweetness of
4:24
course it's buffalo trace that's typically sweeter whiskey but there's definitely some darker notes
4:28
especially on the back end of this you know it's still got the oak but there's a hint of like a
4:32
like new leather not necessarily like an older leather but like a new like leather wallet or
4:37
leather boots that kind of lingers on the end part and it has some more fruitiness in the end but
4:41
i'm surprised by how you know drastic of a journey this whiskey takes you on it starts out sweet with
4:47
that cherry and by mid palette you're starting to get those oaky notes and then it leaves you with
4:51
that really dark leathery kind of finish i mean this is this is a fantastic bourbon i really wish
4:57
stag was easier to get i i know a couple years ago like i said i could see on the shelves for 50
5:02
i wouldn't even mind if this went up to 80 and it was just on the shelves i would pay that
5:06
absolutely i think it's an exceptional bourbon it drinks like a limited edition bourbon
5:11
and even if you're not the biggest buffalo trace fan like like i said earlier i struggle to see
5:16
what bourbon drinker wouldn't enjoy a pour like this unless they just don't like you know the
5:20
higher proof stuff than of course that I understand but this has all of the most delicious bourbon
5:25
flavors packed in and it packs a freaking punch if you see batch 17 definitely grab it one because
5:32
it's the last stag junior but also it's just a really incredible batch I haven't heard much about
5:37
this batch in particular but I can tell you right now batch 17 which is the 128.7 proof
5:42
if you see this one buy it because it is that good but switching gears here a bit we're going
5:48
to get into our news section of the podcast. Another major distillery, one of my favorites
5:53
Heaven Hill, just made a massive acquisition that a lot of people are talking about. So
5:58
earlier this week, they announced that they had acquired Sampson and Surrey. They make
6:02
Widow Jane bourbon. They make Few bourbon, as well as a few others that I'm not super
6:07
familiar with. Tequila Ocho, Brene French whiskey. But these are apparently six premium
6:13
brands of spirits so i think it's really cool because heaven hill doesn't acquire brands that
6:19
often i think they've only acquired like six different brands in the past 20 years which
6:23
i mean it seems like a lot but i mean look at the beer industry how many brands are being acquired by
6:28
the the megas in the beer world um so this is a big deal for both sides fortunately they don't
6:34
plan on changing how um this the samson necessary actually makes their products um they're actually
6:39
acquiring all their facilities as well so they're going to continue to make it you know under the the same name um it's just going to be owned by uh heaven hill and sounds like they're very excited
6:48
about it they're they're glad to be led by you know one of the biggest names in the industry
6:52
um and i think honestly if this gets these brands more out there maybe let them have more releases
6:57
i'd be here for it i don't have too much experience i don't think i've ever tried widow jane i don't
7:02
think i've tried anything from few i've seen them on the shelves though and i have heard good things
7:06
about widow jane so maybe this means i'll have more of a chance to get a chance to try it out
7:11
here in Southern California because I don really feel like I see them that often but I could be wrong I just may not have been looking for them But they also have a mezcal brand which is pretty cool mezcal vago Haven heard of that one but I a big fan of mezcal Y know I love exploring different spirits
7:25
It's not all about bourbon here. So speaking of acquisitions another major one
7:30
Happened not in the world of whiskey but in the world of video games last week
7:34
We talked about Microsoft acquiring Activision well seems like they're not the only one who wants a slice of the game developer
7:41
pizza pie. I don't know where I'm going with that metaphor, but Sony actually acquired the brand
7:48
Bungie Games for $3.6 billion. This was announced earlier this week. Thank you to our friend
7:55
Brandon who gave me the link over on our Whiskey and Gaming Lounge Discord server where you'll
7:59
find all the latest and breaking news and fun hangouts as well. So if you're not familiar with
8:04
Bungie Games, they are known for creating the Halo series and the Destiny series. So
8:11
it's actually a really fascinating history back in the year 2000 Microsoft acquired Bungie and
8:16
released Halo Combat Evolved as like the launch title for the original Xbox and they continue to
8:22
work together on the entire Halo franchise in 2007 Bungie actually split away from Microsoft
8:27
and signed a deal with Activision in 2010 to make Destiny so that was a multi-year deal I think it
8:34
was seven years and they did Destiny they did Destiny 2 both very very successful shooter games
8:40
and they since announced that you know they were ending that partnership and now they're teaming up
8:44
with sony so it sounds like they're doing a bit of hopping around playing the field but man if they
8:49
keep it up the way they've been doing we're due for an incredible new franchise they haven't
8:53
released any details but they are working on a new intellectual property i'm assuming it's going
8:58
to be with the sony team i i don't know if it's going to be an exclusive kind of like halo and
9:02
destiny have been in the past with microsoft but it seems like you know a really good move if you're
9:07
a PlayStation owner like myself. I can't wait to see what they do working with this incredible game studio
9:13
Similar to the Heaven Hill issue, they are allowing Bungie to continue to make the game
9:17
exclusively in-house. They're not necessarily taking over the process. They're just going to oversee it, kind of like Heaven Hill is doing with the Spirits brand
9:26
But I think it's really cool. I do get a little nervous with these mega acquisitions
9:31
I mean, again, $3.6 billion. I really hope they're not leading towards a monopoly situation with Microsoft and PlayStation
9:39
but it's not my industry. I don't know too much about the ins and outs of how that works
9:43
I'm liking that they're allowing the developers to continue to make the games themselves and
9:49
just overseeing it versus dissolving the team or creating a new team or whatever
9:53
It's nice to see that they're keeping the original people on the project. Also important to note, they are still intending to be a multi-platform studio
10:00
meaning um they're going to continue to make games for all platforms not necessarily saying
10:05
there's not going to be an exclusive for sony at some point um but i they are intending to
10:10
be a multi-platform developer and not a playstation exclusive so that's really important to know
10:15
and finally i want to end the podcast since it's the beginning of the month with the new games
10:19
being released this month february 2022 uh depending on when you're listening to this these
10:24
might are probably already out but the biggest two that i think everyone is talking about first of
10:29
all horizon forbidden west finally releases on february 18th this of course is the sequel to
10:36
horizon zero dawn which was one of the most well received i think at one game of the year
10:40
when it was released this is basically a sequel to that you're still following the same main
10:44
character but this world is even bigger and you get to explore this new area which is called the
10:49
forbidden west it based on the western united states so there gonna be a lot of landmarks a lot of things like san francisco in the game but it kind of like a dystopian kind of future version of it So I really excited I seen a little bit of this game I have not actually played Horizon Zero Dawn I watched
11:03
my husband play it. We do have it though. I might need to try to, there's no way I'm going to get
11:08
into it before February 18th, but I may need to revisit a little bit of that story just to kind
11:14
of get myself caught up. But this new game is, it looks absolutely incredible and I can't wait to
11:19
play it. And secondly, the other game that everyone's excited for is Elden Ring, which is a
11:24
long-awaited collaboration between From Software, who is the studio behind Dark Souls, and George R.R
11:32
Martin, the creator, the author of Game of Thrones. Now, Elden Ring, even though it sounds like a
11:37
Lord of the Rings kind of thing, it's actually an original story developed by both George R.R
11:42
Martin and the studio themselves. It's based in The Lands Between, which is the world of the game
11:48
and apparently there was an Elden Ring that has been scattered throughout the world
11:53
So demigods across the region are holding pieces of the ring, but these pieces are corrupting them
11:58
and your goal is to collect all the components of the Elden Ring
12:02
and restore order to the land. So yes, I totally just read a synopsis of that
12:06
I have watched the trailers. I freaking love games that are so story and world driven
12:11
and you know when you involve, you know, George R.R. Martin, he's going to really flesh out these worlds, these characters
12:16
now being honest you know rpgs aren't really my favorite category of game this game is probably
12:21
going to be a lot more big than something i'm ready to tackle i prefer a little bit more casual
12:25
games i do like story driven games but i know with like i said the other games the dark souls series
12:30
they are very very intense so i'm really looking forward to seeing what other people think of this
12:34
i might watch a few streams of this i don't personally plan on getting elden ring unless
12:39
it just completely changes my mind about the whole genre which it could you know i'll wait
12:43
the reviews come out, but it looks absolutely beautiful. The worlds, the characters, definitely
12:48
keep an eye on that if you're into those like darker RPG style games, especially those based
12:53
in like fantasy worlds. I think that's definitely, if that's up your alley, then definitely check out
12:57
this game. And lastly, another game that is coming this month that I am definitely going to be
13:02
playing, that is The Legend of Zelda Majora's Mask is being added to Nintendo Switch Online
13:08
Now, of course, you do need the expansion pack, which gets you access to Nintendo 64 titles
13:13
I actually, believe it or not, have not played Majora's Mask. I know, like, what kind of a gamer am I
13:18
But I was really into Ocarina of Time. I actually played that game
13:22
Like, I beat it once when I was little and I replayed it. But I have not played Majora's Mask, which is crazy because it's basically the follow-up to that game
13:28
So I cannot wait to play Majora's Mask finally. I do have the expansion pack
13:33
Maybe I'll stream it. If y'all are interested in that, let me know. I'll stream that over on Twitch
13:37
By the way, if you're not following me on Twitch, twitch.tv slash bourbonbites. I do some pre-gaming streams before my YouTube streams and some random gaming streams as well
13:45
So make sure you follow me. You'll be notified when I go live and what I'm playing
13:49
So I change it up every now and then. I think we're going to do some Fall Guys this week. But I definitely will be playing some Majora's Mask once that comes out
13:56
So keep an eye out for that on Twitch. And thank you all for listening. I think that does it for this week's podcast
14:02
Let me know what games you guys are excited for. Like I said, if you're not on our Whiskey and Gaming Lounge Discord
14:07
bourbonbites.com. Scroll to the bottom. you will see a link to the discord there can't wait to hear what you guys are playing and drinking
14:13
on this month but until next time this has been bourbon bites cheers and i'll talk to you next episode
#Food & Drink
#food