Up next in 10
This week on Bourbon Bytes, I’m breaking down one of the biggest trending topics in bourbon right now — recent news and rumors surrounding Green River’s master distiller. What’s actually confirmed? What’s speculation? And what could it mean for the future of the brand? Then, I dive into a full review of the brand-new Sazerac Full Proof Rye Whiskey from Sazerac. Buffalo Trace fans have been waiting for a higher-proof version of this classic rye — but does it actually deliver? I cover: • The latest Green River updates and what we know so far • Nose, palate, and finish of Sazerac Full Proof Rye • How it compares to standard Sazerac Rye • Whether it’s worth buying at MSRP Note: Any discussion of Green River is based on publicly available information and industry speculation at the time of recording.
Show More Show Less View Video Transcript
0:00
Today on the Bourbon Bites Podcast, we have a ton of new bourbon whiskey releases from Barrel, Woodford Reserve, Bardstown Bourbon Company, and a few new surprises
0:10
Plus, we're talking about the sudden departure of the master distiller from Green River Distilling
0:14
Then, we're going to do a bite-sized review of Sazerac Rye Foolproof
0:30
Hello everyone and welcome to the Bourbon Bites podcast. I'm your host Clifton and this is the
0:35
week of Thursday, March 19th, 2026. I hope you all had a wonderful St. Patrick's Day or St
0:42
Patrick's Day weekend. I kept it low key this year, just had some Irish whiskey at home. I feel like
0:47
I celebrated last week anyways with the live stream with Stacey from Four Leaf Whiskey. So I
0:53
just poured myself a few glasses of Greenspot and some teeling and just chilled at home. Like last
0:58
week it's been a really busy week for me in my personal life just with job interviews negotiating
1:03
some offers just some fun stuff like that so it's been busy but uh it's been good so no complaints
1:09
there but I do have a fun episode today lots of new bourbon releases actually we're gonna talk
1:15
about three new ones from barrel as well as some cool new labels I've seen pop up not only that but
1:20
I'm reviewing a whiskey that you guys have been begging me to try I finally got my hands on a
1:24
bottle and it's going to lead into a really fun live stream this week so stay tuned this should be
1:30
a fun one but first like I said there are several new releases coming to us from Barrel Craft Spirits
1:35
they have a new black label 18 year old whiskey finished in Cabernet Sauvignon and Sant'Anne
1:42
barrels this is going to be a cast strength blended whiskey coming in at 125.24 proof and it's a blend
1:48
of Kentucky and Canadian whiskey now this is some old whiskey in this blend the Kentucky whiskey is
1:54
18 years old and the Canadian whiskey is between 23 and 25 years old. I actually am not super
2:00
familiar with the Black Label series from Barrel. I know of course like the silver label and the gold
2:05
label but the Black Label is considered their extremely limited and high aged releases. Now
2:10
what's interesting it does say Kentucky whiskey instead of Kentucky bourbon so there's a chance
2:15
it could be some light whiskey. I think that would probably blend pretty well with some Canadian whiskey but with the Cabernet and Sauternes barrel finish that sounds like an interesting
2:23
very fruity take on these whiskeys. So definitely keep an eye out for that. It looks like price on
2:29
that is going to be between $180 to $200. So definitely a very high-end barrel whiskey
2:35
Another one from Barrel is their Cigar Blend, which is finished in Madeira, Armagnac, Rum
2:40
and Hungarian oak casks. This is going to be a cast strength bourbon at 111.2 proof
2:45
and it's going to be a blend of whiskeys aged seven and a half years to 18 years
2:49
finished in those casks. Now cigar blend is a term used across the industry. It means different things
2:56
Most of the time it's meant to be paired with a cigar. Other times it does have a more cigar-like
3:00
flavor and other times it's actually in a cigar cask. So it could mean so many things but it sounds
3:05
like this one is just meant to be paired with the cigar based on those casks that it's aged in. That
3:11
one's actually going for about $80 to $90 which I think is a really fair price for some older
3:16
cast strength bourbon like that. That's one if I see on the shelves I'm definitely going to get my
3:20
hands on because I love me a good cigar blend and Beryl has been one of my favorite blenders in the
3:26
world of whiskey so it seems like a natural fit for me. I'll keep an eye out for that. It looks
3:31
like it is available at a few liquor stores. Not seeing it my local one yet but I will keep you
3:35
guys updated as that becomes available. Lastly there is a new Beryl Red label. This is a 12 year
3:41
old bourbon finished in French oak casks. It's a blend of bourbon from Kentucky, Indiana, Tennessee
3:47
and Wyoming. Now they say this whiskey is up to 15 years old, but the youngest is 12. And the proof
3:53
is going to vary a bit depending on the bottlings. It looks like it's approximately 113.4 proof based
3:59
on past releases. They say the red label series represents a high-end limited release. So maybe
4:04
the black label is high-end and really old and this one's high-end and limited. I'm not really
4:09
sure. But pricing on this looks to be around $175. I mean, I love barrel and like I said
4:15
I think they're great at blending. But to me, that's a bit out of my range for a 12-year bourbon
4:20
Speaking of which, I just did a live stream last week comparing three different 12-year-old bourbons
4:25
including Knob Creek 12, which is readily available, Evan Williams 12, which is a distillery
4:30
only slash Japan release, and Wild Turkey 12-year, which is a Japan exclusive. Those did vary very
4:37
much in price so if you want to see that live stream go check out the replay on YouTube YouTube slash BourbonBites I also been uploading some clips and shorts from that live stream trying to do a little bit new strategy in terms of promoting
4:49
my live streams i know not everyone can sit down for an hour on thursday nights to watch me so i'm
4:54
trying to condense that content into shorter form videos for people to watch throughout the week and
4:59
maybe years down the future so if you have been seeing those let me know what you think the ultimate
5:03
goal is to bring new people into the live streams and by doing short form content i'm hoping i can
5:09
get some new viewers but yeah just trying that out this week seeing how it's going to go all right
5:13
tangent over let's get back to new whiskey now this one's actually kind of similar to one of
5:18
those barrel releases Woodford Reserve has released a Cabernet Sauvignon finished bourbon
5:23
as their distillery series release for 2026 now this is going to be the regular 90.4 proof
5:29
retail on it's going to be about 65 and it's going to be available at the distillery and
5:34
select Kentucky retailers. Now reminder, that's a 375 milliliter bottle, so double it to get what
5:40
you would expect, you know, from a 750 milliliter, which is kind of up there in price for a 90.4
5:46
proof bourbon. It's not age dated, and I've just kind of had some mixed experiences with Cabernet
5:51
finished bourbons particularly. I think this would probably be a pass for me, but if you are local to
5:56
the distillery, I know a lot of people pick these up just because they're a fun way to try new
6:00
experiments. I love my red wine and I love my bourbon. I just don't like them mixed together
6:05
usually. Now there's two new releases that I was very intrigued based on. One for the label and two
6:11
for the description. So the first of which is Girl Dad Bourbon. I saw this over on Cumming Whiskey
6:17
It is a seven-year-old Kentucky straight bourbon whiskey and yes it has a photo of a jockey riding
6:24
a unicorn. This is kind of more of a novelty bourbon. It says, Girl Dad Bourbon was created
6:30
with a simple belief that raising daughters is one of life's greatest responsibilities and one
6:34
of its greatest rewards. It says, Strong Enough for Raising Daughters. It doesn't say where it's
6:39
actually distilled other than Kentucky. And there also seems to be a little bit of a discrepancy
6:44
It says it's 50% ABV but 101 proof. So I'm not sure if it's 101 or 100. Not that it necessarily
6:50
matters, but I like that it's a novelty one, but with good age and good proof. Now, I'm not a girl
6:56
dad or a dad in any sense of the term, but I could see something like this being a fun bottle to gift
7:01
someone, especially if they've just had their first child. I do love some of the comments on this post
7:07
BourbonDad24 said, clearly this is for new girl dads and not preteen girl dads, because it would
7:12
be hazmat. And BourbonApprentice said, got anything stronger for those of us with two? So I think it's
7:19
a great conversation starter and it's just a fun I think giftable bourbon. Now speaking of fun I
7:24
don't know about this one this is Larrikin Bourbon Company's release of rose water bourbon. This is
7:31
a 2026 batch so it sounds like they've done this before. It's a six-year-old bourbon that's been
7:36
proofed down with distillery brewed rose water made from rose petals and spring water. So I don't
7:44
know about that like listen it sounds like a fun experiment it sounds like something that maybe
7:48
would work in a cocktail but I don't know if rose water being used to proof down bourbon is
7:55
one how does the TCB feel about that because that just feels like you were starting to introduce
8:00
some weird gin-like qualities to a bourbon they say that it's not too floral or too sweet
8:07
and their founder and distiller Greg Keeley actually utilized his experience working with
8:12
rose water in the Middle East and South Asia to develop the expression so I'm interested I don't
8:18
think I'll necessarily buy it. This is definitely a try before I buy situation. Its retail price is
8:23
$69 and it's bottled at 86 proof but they did do one last year so they obviously someone likes it
8:29
enough for them to do a second batch. And last new bourbon release is from Bardstown Bourbon
8:35
Company. This is their first distillery reserve release of 2026 and it's taking a journey to the
8:41
Pacific Northwest. So this is the Cascadia Gariana Oak barrel finished. I have had Gariana Oak finished
8:49
bourbon and I'm generally a fan of that flavor profile. I think Doc Swenson's was the first one
8:53
that I tried that really was a standout finished in Gariana Oak. But this is a 10-year-old bourbon
9:00
that's been finished for 10 months in custom barrels crafted using Oregon Gariana Oak. They
9:06
say these barrels feature a three-hour toast to unlock additional layers of spice and complexity
9:12
This is going to be available at the distillery this Friday as well as their tasting room and
9:16
they're limiting it to one bottle per customer. By the way it's going to be 107.5 proof and an
9:22
extremely limited release according to their post about it It looks like it going to be made up of 80 Kentucky 10 bourbon 12 Indiana 10 bourbon and 8 of Kentucky 9 bourbon
9:36
Now I've not had any of these distillery reserve releases, but they've done quite a few of them
9:40
and they seem to do really well. If you get your hands on it, let me know how it is. Now my final news story is semi-related only because Bardstown Bourbon Company is the parent
9:49
company of Green River, it turns out that their master distiller is no longer with the company
9:55
He posted on March 16th on Facebook that today was different. The first day in 12 years, I haven't
10:01
worked for a distillery or a brand. I have been incredibly fortunate to learn, grow, fail, and rise
10:06
up stronger more times than I can count. And with that post, he announced that he's going to start
10:11
a consulting company called Harris Beverage Solutions, and he'll provide some of the industry
10:16
best practices to build out spirits programs across the industry. So this definitely came as
10:22
a bit of a surprise. I don't think anyone was expecting it necessarily. I'm seeing a lot of
10:27
people rumbling with rumors as to what happened. I'm assuming it was probably some sort of a layoff
10:32
because they did a layoff back in March of last year that affected a huge amount of their workforce
10:37
And it's just really sad to see someone that's built up such a great brand no longer be with
10:42
the company. I mean, you guys have heard how much I love Green River. It was my number one bourbon
10:46
of last year. It does make me a little concerned for the Green River brand because I am a huge fan
10:52
of what they've been putting out and most of which is to his credit. I mean, people say he's
10:57
one of the best in the industry. I'm just reading through some of the comments on his post saying
11:01
that he was one of the best they've ever worked with. So I'm wishing Aaron Harris all the best
11:06
with his endeavors. And yeah, let me know what you guys think. Do you have any theories? If you do
11:11
make sure to clarify that they're just a theory unless you have any facts on the situation but
11:17
it just layoffs sound likely having been someone that's gone through a regularly scheduled layoff
11:22
timing just seems right for that but again just a theory a bourbon theory all right well that
11:28
does it for our news today now it's time to get into a much anticipated bite-sized review
11:41
All right, well, like I hinted at the top of this podcast, this one's been requested by a lot of you and it just hadn't hit Southern California until this week
11:50
This is the new Sazerac full proof rye whiskey from Buffalo Trace
11:55
This was announced back in November of last year. It's 125 proof version of Sazerac rye
12:02
Now remember they also announced a 100 proof version of Sazerac Rye which I've reviewed on the channel in addition to the standard 90 proof that's always been part of their lineup
12:12
So what I'm going to do is I'm going to give a full review of the full proof today on the podcast and then this Thursday on my live stream I'm going to do a comparison of the 90 proof, 100 proof, and 125 proof to find out which one is the best bang for your buck
12:28
I love Sazerac Rye. It's one of my standards for cocktails, particularly Manhattans and surprise, Sazeracs
12:36
But I think I'm going to try all three of those in cocktails and neat during the live stream and see which one's my favorite
12:43
So if you want to see that, of course, YouTube.com slash Bourbon Bites. Same time, same time as always
12:49
Now, in terms of pricing, this new foolproof bottle is very affordable for a foolproof Buffalo Trace product
12:56
I actually bought new bottles of the full lineup for the live stream this week
13:00
So I'll just run down the prices. The original 90 proof Sazerac is $24
13:06
It says previously 30, but it sounds like it's on sale for 24. The 100 proof, which is in a one liter bottle, so it's a bit more than the 750 milliliter
13:15
That one's coming in at $35. And this new full proof is coming in at $40
13:21
So it's a very, very fair pricing structure. honestly so incredibly close to each other i think that's going to be a fun part of the live stream is
13:29
we're not comparing a $200 bottle versus a $30 bottle right we're comparing bottles that are $5
13:34
apart from each other so looking forward to that like i said stay tuned for the live stream but
13:39
today is going to be a first impression of just the foolproof sazerac by itself does this $40
13:44
bottle live up to the buffalo trace sazerac name let's find out let's go and get it poured now as
13:50
with other Sazerac releases, there's no age statement here. We know it's at least four years
13:54
old just based on the label, but no additional info beyond that. Let's go ahead and give it a nose
14:01
Oh, wow. Spicier than I imagined. You know, I always get a bit of an orange peel on this
14:07
which is why I love it in a cocktail but that even more amplified by a bit of a I don know if I want to say patchouli because it not that intense but there kind of a general allspice kind of
14:18
note happening here. It's very much giving fall. A little bit of like a baked pie, maybe some
14:24
cinnamon sugar. Really, really nice nose. I think that's one of the advantages of a foolproof or a
14:30
cast strength whiskey is you're getting it at its full intensity. So the flavors and the nose and
14:36
everything is going to be big and bold and that's evident here on the nose. It's just like you've
14:41
turned up Sazerac to foolproof. Surprise again. Let's go in and give it a taste. Cheers
14:50
Oh wow that does not drink 125 proof which is surprising because usually with a rye whiskey
14:56
they always drink a little hotter to me. Now don't get me wrong there's quite a bit of a burn as it
15:01
goes down. But when that touches your tongue, it really coats the mouth in a very soothing way
15:07
believe it or not. I mean, it's a lot of honey sweetness at the tip of the tongue. And even
15:11
though I think it's mouth coating, it does kind of work its way down to the finish really quickly
15:16
It doesn't really linger on the mid-palate or anything like some whiskeys do. It kind of hits
15:20
you with that sweetness at the tip of the tongue, and the finish kind of comes back with a bit of
15:24
like a candy sweetness there, like almost like a candy coating on something. Not a super long
15:29
finish. I think, you know, this is probably a relatively young, barely legal rye whiskey, which
15:34
you know, they don't reveal the mash bill, but I assume it's probably a lot of corn still in here
15:39
And for the price, I think this is one of the most, you know, worth it rye whiskeys I've ever
15:44
seen. You know, in comparison to the foolproof benchmark, which honestly is kind of in the same
15:49
realm as just their bourbon. I think this one has a lot more going for it. I don't think it's
15:53
extremely rye forward. You know, if you're looking for that huge, big, bold rye experience, even
15:59
though this is 125 proof you're not really getting that to me this is much more mellow much more
16:03
approachable but I think it would stand up really well in a cocktail so I'm really excited to do the
16:08
live stream this week and see how it does now personally you know I want a little more rye spice
16:13
in my rye whiskey otherwise I would just drink a bourbon but I think for someone that is kind of
16:18
a little rye curious but not quite you know a rye fan this would be a good one to get into especially
16:25
if you like high proof American whiskey. So you probably know this, but I only give one score here
16:30
on the channel and I base it on availability, price, palate, nose, everything combined. And
16:36
this one, it kind of is an interesting place because price is a perfect score. I think for a
16:43
$40 cast strength rye whiskey, I mean, that's pretty much unbeatable. I think the only thing
16:49
that's holding it back is there's no age statement. It just is a little bit of a short finish, a little
16:53
bit of short-lived whiskey. I think this one really needs to be in a cocktail to be its full
16:59
experience. I think that's why Sazerac is one of my go-to cocktail whiskeys. It's fine on its own
17:05
but I think it really shines in a cocktail. But I'm reviewing it based on a neat porcelainite
17:10
With all things considered, I love the nose on it. I love the price on it. Palette and finish
17:14
meh, kind of. I'm going to give this one a 7 out of 10. I think it is a really great buy
17:20
especially if you're a fan of Sazerac rye in general. This is a big upgrade from the standard 90 proof Sazerac
17:28
Is it an upgrade from the 100 proof? That's a little bit questionable. Like I said, I'm looking forward to seeing how it does on a live stream
17:34
because that 100 proof Sazerac really blew my mind with how much of an improvement over the 90 it was
17:40
Is this as much of an improvement over that one? I'll find out on my live stream. But overall, solid rye whiskey
17:46
I see why people like it. I think if this becomes a regular edition, and it becomes more available, this might become one of my go-to cocktail ryes to replace some of
17:54
my other ones. Until then, let's go ahead and wrap this up. Thank you all so, so much for listening
17:59
I knew this was going to be a fun episode, but I feel like we got a lot of stuff covered. If you ever have suggestions or comments for future topics or whiskey reviews for the podcast
18:08
you can email me, contact at bourbonbites.com, or let me know on our Whiskey and Gaming Lounge
18:13
Discord server. For those of you that are Bite Club members at the $5 tier or more, this Friday
18:18
March 20th we are going to be watching the Boondock Saints for our monthly movie night so never seen
18:24
it but you guys have been recommending this for a while I've heard good things and also I've heard
18:28
that it's pretty gory and violent which I'm okay with but um looking forward to watching that with
18:32
you guys this week until next time this has been bourbon bites a whiskey podcast with a gaming
18:37
twist cheers and I'll talk to you next episode bye
#Food & Drink
#food