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This week on Bourbon Bytes, Clifton reviews the 2025 Weller Full Proof Bourbon — a rich, wheated Buffalo Trace release bursting with fall bakery notes, buttery pie crust, and toasted vanilla. Does it live up to its hype (and price tag) compared to Weller 107 and other wheated bourbons? Tune in for the full breakdown and rating. Also in whiskey & gaming news: Buffalo Trace unveils the 2025 Pappy Van Winkle Collection (including a one-of-a-kind 25-year-old bottle) Elijah Craig drops its youngest barrel proof batch ever at just 9 years old The September Nintendo Direct delivers huge announcements: Super Mario Galaxy movie & bundle, a new Yoshi game, and Pokémon Pokopia — the cozy Pokémon life sim we never knew we needed!
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Today on the Bourbon Bites podcast, Buffalo Trace announces their 2025 Pappy Van Winkle
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collection, Elijah Craig releases their youngest barrel-proof batch yet, and I recap the September
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Nintendo Direct with all the biggest announcements. Plus, I review a new bottle of Weller Foolproof Bourbon
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Hello everyone and welcome back to the Bourbon Bites podcast. This is the week of Thursday
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September 18th, 2025 and I have some whiskey and video game news for you. If you're new here
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welcome. My name is Clifton. This is the Bourbon Bites podcast, a whiskey podcast with a gaming
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twist. Thank you for joining me this week because we have some of the biggest news in bourbon of all
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2025 to talk about today and that is the Pappy Van Winkle 2025 collection that was just announced
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This year they're rolling out six expressions Old Rip Van Winkle 10 year, Van Winkle Special Reserve
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12 year, Van Winkle Family Reserve Rye at 13 years, Pappy Van Winkle 15, 20, and 23 year as usual
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but they are also releasing one bottle of Old Rip Van Winkle 25 years old that was recently
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discovered as they say and will be included in the National Bourbon Heritage Month auction. And yes
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you heard that right there is literally one bottle of this release. And while only one lucky person
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will get their hands on this bottle only a select few will get their hands on the other bottles as
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well. But it does make a new statement in the world of Pappy. There's been some special one-off
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releases in the past usually released for special occasions or auctions like this but it adds just
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another blip on the radar of bourbons I'll never see in the wild. But we always still get excited
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about it every year. Same with the Buffalo Trace Antique Collection. They're bottles that you want
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to seek out and maybe in a lottery you'll have a chance to buy one of them or maybe two of them
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But just don't get your hopes up unless you got big bucks to spend. But we might as well talk
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about their retail prices because you know why not? The old Britt Van Winkle bourbon the 10 year
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old is $149.99. The Van Winkle Special Reserve Bourbon is $169.99. The Family Reserve Rye 13
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Year is $229.99. The Pappy 15 is $239.99. Pappy 20 is $359.99. And of course, Pappy Van Winkle
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23 comes in at the highest price $499.99. Now will you find any of these under $500? Absolutely not
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but we like to talk about retail. You know like I said if you have a chance to buy something in
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lottery there's a chance you can buy it at MSRP and actually even though it's far far down the
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lineup from Buffalo Trace I did buy today's bottle that I'm reviewing on my bite-sized review at MSRP
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because, well, it was a leftover from the Total Wine Grand Reserve lottery. And I didn't get
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picked for it, but they're like, hey, we have a few extra bottles of this if you want it at retail
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So I had a chance to buy it. So we'll get into that later. But I wanted to review it because
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it is relevant to the Buffalo Trace limited edition releases. Now, this is the season where
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we're going to expect to see the Buffalo Trace Antique Collection as well. We talked about it a
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few months ago about the new releases the new E.H. Taylor inclusion in it I don't think we have
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details yet as to the exact proofs and everything going into the 2025 release we just know that the
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E.H. Taylor is going to be a new inclusion in the lineup so stay tuned for that I will report on
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that as soon as I have an update I will try my best to get a sample of any slash all of these
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Buffalo Trace limited edition releases but I want you guys to at least know about them you know know
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they exist out there in case you hadn't heard. Now one quick mention of Bourbon News, only quickly
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mentioning it because I'll probably review it in the very near future. Elijah Craig has just
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announced their C-batch of Elijah Craig Barrel Proof and it's actually the youngest ECBP yet
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This one's actually only coming in at nine years and one month old. Now it is coming in at 129 proof
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so it's still a relatively high proof release but this is kind of what people feared when it came to
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Elijah Crick Barrel Proof losing the age statement. Now they have been including the age statement on
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each batch, but everything used to be at least 12 years old. There's been some variation, there's
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been some younger, there's been some older releases, but nothing's come quite as young, at least for
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the batch releases, as nine years one month. I know quite a few single barrels have come in close to
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that or even younger at eight years, and you know there's a place for them, but it does hurt my heart
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just a little bit to see a lower proof batch but I'm going to give it a shot as I do with every
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Elijah Craig barrel proof and especially since this is the last one of the year I going to try to get my hands on it so I can do a blind flight for A batch B batch and C batch Because when we do it blind we don know how old it is and maybe there a chance it the best tasting batch yet Now I will mention Elijah Craig
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normally sends me a sample of every single Elijah Craig Barrel Proof for the past several years
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Now, this is the only one that I haven't received a sample of yet. Now, that doesn't mean it's not
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coming, but it almost makes me wonder, like, maybe they didn't want to send it to the guy who's
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reviewed every single batch just in case you know it doesn't hold up but we'll see you'll be seeing
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that on my youtube channel once i get my hands on it like i said i always do it end of year blind
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flight of all the batches that year i sometimes put them head to head against my favorite batch
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of last year if you're curious about that and you want to see it make sure to check out my youtube
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channel youtube.com slash bourbon bites i go live every thursday night at 7 p.m pacific 10 p.m eastern
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that's always one of the favorites of the year for me and for you guys so really looking forward
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to do that. Now as I mentioned on last week's podcast Nintendo was due for a Nintendo Direct
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this month and it happened and there were some huge announcements that I want to tell you guys
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about. The first of which I have to acknowledge being the retro gamer that I am. This is the 40th
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anniversary of Super Mario Bros. I've been a lifelong fan of this franchise growing up with
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Super Mario World and things like that. I just always have a special place in my heart for the
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classic Mario games. And to celebrate they're actually doing a special light display at the
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Kyoto Nintendo Museum starting this December and they'll be also sponsoring the Kyoto Marathon in
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February with special Nintendo race bibs. I love to see such a historic moment being recognized and
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celebrated. I wish we could do a little bit more for it here in the U.S. But that was only the start
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of the Nintendo Direct because there were so many announcements. I'm only going to highlight some of
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my favorites you can go watch the replay it's about an hour long but here are a few of my favorite
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things that were announced while we're talking about Mario the Super Mario Galaxy movie is
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coming out in April of 2026 did you guys see the Super Mario's bro movie that came out I think it
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was was it last year or the year before I actually thought it was pretty dang good I don't know what
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my expectations were you know usually video game movies you're kind of like meh about but I think
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coming off the heels of Detective Pikachu which I thought was a fantastic film I was really excited
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and I think the Super Mario movie held up so I'm excited to see the Super Mario Galaxy movie coming
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next year. Speaking of Super Mario Galaxy they are releasing a two-parter release. Super Mario Galaxy
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and Super Mario Galaxy 2 are going to be bundled and released on October 2nd for Nintendo Switch
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Now even though this is coming out on Nintendo Switch it's going to be playable on Switch 2 and
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of course enhanced to being the resolution up to 4k on that platform as well as a few extra features
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specifically for the Switch 2 edition. Now another game that was announced that's part of a very
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familiar IP is Yoshi and the Mysterious Book. This is a brand new game in the Yoshi universe
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and in this game a mysterious book falls from the sky known as Mr. E. Get it? Mystery? And throughout
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the game you'll be meeting all these new creatures and it seems like a lot of fun. It seems like these
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new creatures that you discover introduce different ways to play the game whether they help you
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break rocks or help you fly across water. It looks like a lot of fun and a lot of discovery to be had
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in this game so it's definitely one I'm interested in picking up. I just think Yoshi is one of my
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favorite Nintendo characters and always love to see a new Yoshi game. Now there were quite a few
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other things announced including some DLC to Donkey Kong Bonanza. A new Fire Emblem game was
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announced at the end of the game and a new Metroid Prime 4 release coming out this December but there
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was one game that caught my eye more than all the others. If you know me and you know my type of
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games you know how excited I am for Pokemon Pocopia. So this is a life sim farming sim type
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game but with Pokemon. It's everything I've wanted since I was a child. It's basically from what I
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can tell in the announcement video Animal Crossing but with Pokemon. It's very Minecraft inspired
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kind of like how Animal Crossing is but instead of villagers you have Pokemon that can move into
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your town and you can specialize certain areas for them you can build homes for them and it's
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featuring some of my favorite classic Pokemon. The reveal trailer of course started with Bulbasaur
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Squirtle, and Charmander but I'm sure there are a ton more Pokemon to discover in the game
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But what I think is the most unique part is your character or the the player's character
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is actually a ditto so ditto takes on a human form whether it's a boy or a girl depending on who you
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would like to play as and you can actually communicate with the pokemon you can talk to them you can understand them and i think that brings a whole new level of falling in love with
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your favorite pokemon just getting to know their personalities getting to know what they like what
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they dislike it just makes the inner child in me so excited to see something like this now whether
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or not it's going to kind of be a flop and it kind of just you know was very very basic or if
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it's going to live on as a classic we have yet to see but it is probably the most excited I've been
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for a new Nintendo game in a long time and that even includes Pokemon Legends I actually more excited for this than those games even though that game looks like a lot of fun I saw they announced the new Mega Raichu X and Mega Raichu Y which is fun and all but I love my cozy little farming life sim
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games. Judge me I don't care. So we don't have a specific release date for this game but it will
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be coming out in 2026. Usually that probably means later in the year but I'm excited to follow this
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one and see how they continue to develop it and make it more exciting because I'm already very
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very intrigued and I will be absolutely picking up a copy of this game. All right well that does
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it for this week's Whiskey and Gaming News but we do have a very special bite-sized review
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All right well as I teased earlier in the review I managed to get my hands on a new bottle of
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Weller Foolproof at MSRP. So according to the laser code this appears to be a 2025 batch
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and that excites me because I haven't had any one of these since they first came out
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Funny enough a lot of Foolproof store picks became available here in Southern California
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more than the standard release so I had the opportunity to try several of those back when
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that first came out but I only tried the Foolproof regular edition once. I only had one bottle of it
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and that's long long gone. So when I got the email from Total Wine that there were a few of
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these left over at the store from the lottery. I knew I couldn't pass it up. I paid $74.99 for it
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which seems fair. I'm not sure if MSRP has changed. I know originally it was closer to 50
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but again, it's been several years, so I was willing to pay a bit of an increase
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even if that wasn't necessarily MSRP. Now, as with all Weller Full Proof releases
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this is 114 proof. So it's technically not cast strength. It's just what they're labeling as
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full proof compared to their Weller 107, which I actually have been drinking throughout this
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podcast just to kind of re-familiarize myself with the palette. I love 107. It's always been
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one of my favorite Weller releases, but I've had some fantastic foolproofs, so I'm excited to see
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how this compares. Now, of course, this is the same weeded bourbon mash bill that they used in
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the Pappy Van Winkle collection. Of course, a lot more available than that, and also certainly
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not nearly as old. We don't know how old, but we assume this is between six to seven years old based
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on what Buffalo Trace has told folks. And that would make sense because Weller 12 is, you know
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of course, advertised as the older brother of these releases. So, you know, I think six to eight
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sounds about right to me. It would be great if these did have an age statement on them though
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All right, well, let's go in and get this Weller foolproof poured and a fresh bottle crack for us
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here. This is the first time I've tried this this year. I always get nervous doing a Weller review
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because I know people have a lot of thoughts on it. I really haven't seen it much lately. I used
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to confine 107 at least a couple of times a year, but I can't tell you the last time I saw a bottle
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of it. I've seen special reserve here and there, and then the 12-year is something that I've
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surprisingly seen a couple times this year, but it's not one of my favorites. I do have a bottle
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that I recently revisited, and I still feel kind of the same way as I have always felt about that
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one. Just the 12-year never hits right for me. 107 is where it's at for me. Always a fantastic
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bottle. Full proof has been, you know, sometimes better, sometimes equal to, sometimes not as good
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in my opinion, but I'm going to reserve all those previous judgments and hold them back for this
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2025 Weller foolproof release. Let's go ahead and give that one a nose
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Oh yummy. Yeah that's that's kind of what I expected with the nose. I mean it's kind of
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what I always get on a weeded buffalo trace. It is a dessert shop but specifically a fall
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bakery note. It's straight up pie season. I'm getting apple pie maybe a little bit of mixed
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berries there as well. Some toasted vanilla and just the right amount of oak that it's not
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overpowering. I think the dessert notes are first and foremost what I'm getting on this whiskey
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on the nose at least. I think this gives you a really fantastic just down home country fall
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bake shop note. There's a little bit of baking spice there too. I'm thinking more along the lines
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of nutmeg compared to cinnamon. Not really spicy like cinnamon. It's definitely a very mellow
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approachable nose. All right I could nose this all day but we gotta go in for a taste so let's try
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this 2025 Weller foolproof. Cheers. Yeah that stays the course. The first thing I get is that
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pie crust note. This one is strangely enough giving me the very specific type of pie crust for like a
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chicken pot pie which is crazy. It doesn't have any of the savory chicken pot pie notes but it does
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have that flaky buttery kind of pie crust note that you get on top of one of those and a little
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bit of char. You know sometimes when you have a chicken pot pie the edges are a little bit more charred than the fluffy buttery center. This is definitely both of those combined. Definitely more
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in the buttery territory but there's some hints of that toasted pie crust note that just is it makes
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my mouth water and right alongside that is some vanilla I mean if you combine those two notes it
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kind of is almost in the realm of creme brulee like a little bit of like a toasted sugar and vanilla note there as well I sure you can have it on other pies too but in my experience that where I experienced it the most um just delicious buttery crust again there that baking spice it not cinnamon it not spicy at
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all it's just a little bit maybe more like clove or like I said earlier nutmeg or all spice can't
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quite pinpoint it but it definitely goes kind of fall but not quite cinnamon I know I said this is
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like a fall whiskey or a fall bake shop but I'm missing some of those really spicy cinnamon notes
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that you would get on something that I would consider a holiday whiskey. I think a fall whiskey
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and a holiday whiskey are close but not exactly the same. This one's leaning more towards just the
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sweet, the delicate, the almost like toasted marshmallow element of fall. It's just overall
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sweet vanilla, toasted oak, pie crust. I mean this is a flavor profile that it would be hard to not
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like if you are a fan of bourbon. Especially if you're a fan of weeded bourbon, you're not seeking
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out that really spicy rye that I sometimes love, but sometimes I like to settle in with a bourbon
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that's high proof. Like I said, 114 is nothing to turn your nose up at, but does not drink that
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high proof and just is very approachable, easy, great mouthfeel. Finish wise is probably a medium
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finish. It's not super short, but it doesn't linger too long. It doesn't overstay its welcome
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I guess I would say. But overall, just experience wise, it's hard to fault this bourbon. Now
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when we think bang for your buck, of course, I'm thinking of this as a $75 bourbon
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which is what I bought it for. I think it's a great bourbon anywhere up to $100. I think it's
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you know, unique. It's a great expression of what Buffalo Trace can do with a foolproof
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weeded mash bill. Now, if you see the Weller 107 at the same price, there's some debate whether
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which one is better. I sometimes prefer the 107, but I say you do you. If you have a chance to buy
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them both, definitely do at $100. And I think it stands toe-to-toe with other weeded bourbons at a
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similar proof. I mean, I really love the Maker's Mark Private Selects that have the different oak
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stave finishes on them. Those are definitely a bit more in the spicy territory. This one is a lot more
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approachable, a little more nuanced with that sweet, you know, fall pie element. It's hard to
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say which one I prefer just because I really do like Maker's Mark, those high proof releases
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But this one has always got a place on my shelf. It's just a really good, approachable, delicious
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bourbon whiskey. Now in terms of rating, which I've been trying to do more on these podcast reviews
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you know, I didn't know what to expect going into this. I haven't had it in years. My experience
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from them have gone from great to good to a little bit subpar, but this one is probably between good
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great. I mean, it's not the best Weller I've ever had, but it really is holding its ground here
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and at $75, I don't regret this purchase at all. I think I would absolutely buy another if I had a
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chance to at the same price. So with that being said, of course, not considering the prices that
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some people pay on secondary, I gave this a solid eight and a half out of ten. I would love to see
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an age statement on it. I would love to have a little bit more of a finish there, but just as a
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standalone foolproof Weller weeded bourbon release, I mean, there's not much I can complain about. I'm
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a big fan of it. So yes, you may consider me a tater, but I don't think it's being a tater just
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giving something a fair review after paying retail for it. I think if I would have spent several
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hundred dollars on this and then I gave it a raving review, that would be a whole different scenario. There are people that do that, and you know what? More power to them, but I am someone that treats
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all bourbon fairly. I review them based on retail, and if you are able to get it at retail
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what rating would I give it? So that's my thoughts on this bourbon. I think it's a must-buy at under
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a hundred dollars. I would love to get a more recent 107. The one I'm drinking is a pick from
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several years ago, actually. I have not seen 107 hit my area in a long, long time. So
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I will keep an eye out. I will hold on to the rest of this Weller Foolproof to do a comparison
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Maybe I'll do another Weller Fool lineup review. I've done that in the past on YouTube. If you've
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been curious, check it out. YouTube.com slash Bourbon Bites. I'm promoting the YouTube channel
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a lot as podcasts. It's not intentional, but that's kind of my second home on the internet
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It's the podcast and the YouTube channel. You can find all of it bourbonbites.com and get
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link to our discord server and our bike club membership but yeah that's usually where you'll
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find me youtube or the podcast so yeah there's plenty of buffalo trace content between the two
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all right well that does it for this week's episode thank you all so much for listening
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don't forget that you can leave a rating on your favorite podcast platform you can also call into
19:16
the show and leave your questions or comments you can reach me at 916-64-bytes that voicemail inbox
19:22
is still open of course you can also send a text or post a message on discord but i'd like to hear
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your voice i'd love to feature you on the next episode so give me a call or shoot me a message
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i'd love to hear from you but until next time this has been bourbon bites a whiskey podcast
19:35
with a gaming twist cheers and i'll talk to you guys next episode bye
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