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This week I'm reviewing Yellowstone Select Bourbon and talking about their limited edition Landmark Series bottles to celebrate Limestone Branch Distillery and the 150th anniversary of the Yellowstone Bourbon Brand. Plus, I'm taking a deep dive into a new case study about the bourbon industry in Kentucky, which is bringing in over $9 billion a year. Finally, we're taking a look at the White Oak Initiative and how they're advocating to save our dwindling resource of white oak trees, which may disappear in the next decade and change the bourbon industry forever. 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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On today's episode of the Bourbon Bites podcast, I'm reviewing Yellowstone Select Bourbon
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and talking about their new Landmark Edition series, and sharing news about a dwindling
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resource that may change the bourbon industry forever. Hello everyone and welcome to the Bourbon Bites podcast
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I'm your host, Clifton, and today we actually have a lot of news to talk about. I feel like I've been really light on that aspect of the podcast lately, but this week
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has pushed out a ton of news, not just in bourbon, but in video games too
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So I'm going to try to get into it as much as possible, but make sure to pour a glass
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and buckle in for the ride because it's going to be a crazy one. So I have in front of me Yellowstone Select Bourbon
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Now this is actually a brand that I'm very unfamiliar with. I recognize it, of course
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I see it on the shelves, and I know they have a limited edition bottle that's very highly sought after
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But this is just the standard Yellowstone Select Kentucky Straight Bourbon Whiskey
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It is from Limestone Branch Distillery out of Lebanon, Kentucky. And this isn't just their regular bottle, because this is their celebratory landmark edition bottle
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Limestone Branch is celebrating the 150th anniversary of the Yellowstone Bourbon brand
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So this is a very limited edition bottle. There are six different labels that you can collect
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I happen to be holding the Old Faithful label, but there's five other labels in this series that celebrate different park landmarks around Yellowstone
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And from now until November 30th, Limestone Branch will donate $1.50 to the National Parks Conservation Association for each bottle of Yellowstone whiskey sold
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So y'all may not know this, but I am a huge proponent of our national and state parks
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I actually have set a personal goal in life to try to go to as many as possible
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I've only hit a few so far. But I happen to have a pass that's actually available to all disabled Americans that lets you get into every national park for free
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You can actually get this at the different national parks. I didn't really have to prove anything
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I mean, I guess, you know, having one arm, they kind of saw my disability. So I'm sure in certain situations you may have to have some kind of proof
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But yeah, they just give you this pass and you can get into all the parks for free. And usually national parks have a pretty hefty entry fee, which is understandable because they have to pay all of the incredible talented rangers and conservationists and all these people that are keeping these parks as beautiful and pristine as they are
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But I just really want to explore the beauty of our nation
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It's something I've been really passionate about. And hopefully I will be hitting some more of those in the next couple of years
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I have a couple marked down as next ones I want to go to. I've been to Yosemite out here in California, which is absolutely beautiful
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I want to go to Redwoods National Park. I want to go to Glacier National Park, Yellowstone, speaking of which
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They're all on my near-sighted bucket list. So perfect time to drink some Yellowstone
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And the fact that this bottle supports a great cause, I'm 100% here for it. So way to go, Limestone Branch
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I feel like, you know, national parks and bourbon aren't really something that you think of together. unless you are of course our friend Whiskey Mountains Adriana. She has a YouTube channel
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where she goes around different I don't think she's gone to national parks I think it's because
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they have some rules regarding alcohol but she does go to some beautiful parks across our great
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nation and does whiskey reviews from there so if you guys aren't yet following Adriana like I said
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Whiskey Mountains she's awesome definitely check her out. So I'm sure she is loving the idea of
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the fact that these bottles go towards supporting our national parks. So I'm going to get this open
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and pour a glass before I get into some of this crazy news that came out. Poured a little bit extra there because we got some tea to talk about
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So even though this is a limited edition bottle design, it's the same price as standard Yellowstone Select Bourbon
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It's $39.99 MSRP. So this whiskey actually doesn't have an age statement
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It is a straight bourbon whiskey, so we know it's at least two years old. But we do know that it was distilled and aged in Kentucky
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and bottled by Limestone Branch. under the direction of Stephen Beam, who is a very well-known and well-liked person in the bourbon industry
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So like I said, I have very little experience with this. I believe at the moment they are sourcing this whiskey, I know it's a Luxe Coke brand
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which does a lot of sourcing for their releases like Rebel and Ezra Brooks
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So I imagine this is still a sourced whiskey. It does say it's from Kentucky, so I can only assume that it's potentially Heaven Hill
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based on some of their other products, which I know is my favorite distillery. So that's good news for me
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But we don't know for sure. And like I said, there's no age statement, but it is 93 proof
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So taking a quick look at their website, it actually seems like they do have an age statement here
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They say this features a handpicked blend of four to seven year old bourbons
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So that's, that's good to know. This has got some age on it. So on the nose, it's very light and bright and vanilla
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It's kind of reminiscent of like a, like a powdered sugar on the nose
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I think it's kind of waking up my nose hairs with that really sweet note. It's a little marshmallowy, not necessarily toasted marshmallow
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To me, it's more like a marshmallow straight out of the bag, which kind of goes along with that powdery note that I'm getting on the nose
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There's some wood notes there as well, and they're still in that bright, light territory
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almost like a freshly cut or shaved piece of wood. Getting a little bit of that sawdust kind of note on the nose
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But overall, it's very approachable, so I'm very excited to see how it does on the palette
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Let's go and give it a try. Cheers, guys. Oh, wow. That oak is way more forward on the palette
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It goes from being that like a bit of a sawdusty kind of note on the nose to more of like a full-fledged like, you know, oak barrel on the palate, which is a good thing
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Still very sweet though, less of the marshmallow sweetness and more of the richer, you know, maybe like creme brulee kind of sweetness there
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It's definitely creamy. It almost like a like a fruit kind of custard kind of thing like or like a yogurt but very light fruits I almost thinking like you know like pear or apple Or even like pears like in a pie Like a baked you know spiced brown sugar apple pear pie kind of situation
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If this is indeed sourced from Heaven Hill, I get a lot more of those baked dessert notes
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which are some of my favorite notes on a whiskey in general. But a lot more light. Typically with those notes, especially with like Elijah Craig, to me they're almost like a burnt crust
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This isn't giving me that burnt crust note. It's more of like a fluffy, you know, flaky kind of crust
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I'm making myself really hungry right now. But it's still in that, you know, baked dessert territory
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Not as rich, I guess I would say, as some other products from that distillery. But again, I was going to say this is a $40 bourbon, but that's a pretty, you know, substantial price point, especially when there's not an official age statement
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I mean, it does say four to seven years on the website, which, you know, is great that they're able to tell us that there
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Finish-wise, it's, I guess I would say medium. It's on the shorter end of a medium
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It doesn't go away too quickly like some whiskeys do. It does linger a little bit, but it doesn't stick around and overstay its welcome at 93 proof
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But fortunately, there's none of the youthfulness that I was getting on the nose on the palate
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This does drink like a very nicely aged bourbon. It doesn't drink like a really old bourbon, but it doesn't taste young by any means, which was really great
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It's very middle of the road is the best way to put it, and that's not necessarily a criticism
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I'm just saying that it's not something that was off-putting or anything. nothing's wrong with this bourbon I think $40 price point is a tad bit high for this this is
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the price of the standard Yellowstone Select bourbon um they just have these special limited
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edition bottles the six different ones um that are collectible which you know of course makes
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it more worth it to me because I have a bit of like a Pokemon collector kind of mindset there
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I definitely want to get all six bottles um by the way I didn't mention but they actually sent
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me this bottle uh to review here today they also sent me a label for a second bottle so
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So even if I'm not able to find any of the other five labels, I can kind of fake it a little bit by putting the other label they sent me
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They are very, very beautiful. It's very reminiscent of what, you know, a classic bourbon label would have looked like
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You know, I don't know, about 150 years ago, it was definitely a lot more modern than that. But a good, you know, 50, 60 years ago, it is a very classic design
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I do think this is a solid bourbon. And especially if you are a big proponent of the national parks like I am, I definitely recommend picking up a bottle
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It's a winner in my book for that alone. Now, if you are just getting, you know, the regular bottles, not the 150th landmark edition, I do think $40 is a bit high for what you're getting in the glass here
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I mean, Limestone Branch isn't a brand I'm super familiar with. I'm very familiar with, you know, Luxco, which is the company over them
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But I don't really know much more from Limestone Branch. But the fact that it's missing an age statement, it is 93 proof
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I can't say I recommend just the standard off-the-shelf Yellowstone Select bourbon at the price point
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but these collectible bottles are really cool and they support a good cause so like I said
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if you do care about that as much as I do then definitely pick these up especially if you've
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never tried it before you know this is my first time trying it and I'm glad I tried it it's it's
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a solid bourbon I just think you know for the $40 price it's it's a little bit out of my budget for
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what I expected that price point but again thank you to the folks over at Limestone Branch that
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sent this bottle for review I'm so glad that I got a chance to try it and I'm definitely keeping
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the bottle because I love a good national park memorabilia. I collect magnets from all the
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national parks I visit. So you know what? I might actually turn that second label into a magnet
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Hmm. DIY project. So I'm going to leave that in my glass. Like I said, I poured a little bit extra
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because we do have some news stories to talk about today. One of these just came out on Wednesday
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which happens to be the day I'm recording this right now. There was a big impact study done on
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the state of bourbon in kentucky this was a massive project put on by the state itself
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it was a deep dive into the bourbon industry you know where it's came and where it's going next
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so i have some highlights here um there are some good things here and some things are a little
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worrying so like i said stick around this should be a fun one so the biggest impact of this that's
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you know the headline thing is the bourbon industry is putting nine billion dollars into
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Kentucky's economy every single year. It generates over 22,000 jobs with over $1.23 billion in payroll
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So those are massive, massive numbers. This is, you know, one of the biggest industries for the
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state of Kentucky, and it's looking real positive for people in the industry itself. So in the last
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20 years, the number of jobs has increased by 83%, going up to 22,500 in this study. Kentucky
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distilleries bought 17 million bushels of corn in 2020 with 75 of it coming from Kentucky which is
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always good to see I love when distilleries are sourcing their own grains from their local area
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I think that helps local farmers and it makes a big impact on you know the pride that a lot of
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people feel for their whiskey I mean some of the guests I've had on my streams you know are from
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smaller bourbon areas you know whether it's you know Iowa or Ohio but by the fact that they're
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working with local farmers really does bring the hometown aspect to it. And I think that's super
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important in whiskey. You want to get the local people fired up about it. And Kentuckians are no
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doubt fired up about bourbon. I've met quite a few of them. And they just had an all-time record of
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10.3 million aging barrels of bourbon. This is the first time it's ever been over 10 million in the
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history of bourbon production. The number of barrels filled each year is also up by 435
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since 1999. So in 2020 alone, they filled a record 2.4 million barrels of bourbon
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which is very exciting for those of us that are realizing that certain bottles are getting harder
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and harder to find. So we got a few years to wait before they actually start putting out
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you know, these releases and these massive barrel dumps. But it's very exciting times if you are a
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bourbon drinker. You know, if you're a collector, you know, we're kind of in what they say is the
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bourbon boom right now or the bourbon bubble So you know maybe you might want to you know offload that collection in the next couple years But I a bourbon drinker I collect in terms of like I want to try as many bottles as I can And I want to have special bottles to share with friends But I definitely there very few bottles that I don just pop the corks immediately
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Usually the only ones that I don't are backup bottles or something that I'm saving for a
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very specific occasion. I don't have any bottles that I'm just saving for, you know, some, you know, a future event
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that I haven't decided yet. I do have some bottles that, not necessarily expensive bottles either, but there are a
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couple that I'm saving for certain occasions. So, but other than that, no, like 95% or more of my
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bourbon at home are open. So nowhere is there, but it is exciting to see that the industry is booming
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However, there is a bit of a dark side of that, which is a completely different news study that
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came out earlier in January. I think it's very relevant to talk about right now, especially when
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we're talking about national parks and nature and saving the environment and conservation, because
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Even though the bourbon industry is booming, there is a resource that is running out that could severely impact the bourbon industry in general
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And that resource is wood. So as most of us know, white oak is the requirement for making a bourbon
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It has to be aged in new charred white oak barrels. However, white oak as a resource in itself is dwindling and it's going to continue to do so over the next decade
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So an organization known as the White Oak Initiative was created to advocate for the sustainability of American white oak
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It's actually supported by a bunch of different distilleries from Brownformin to Sazerac and Beam
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They all do support this organization and the important message they're trying to convey
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So even though we are growing over 100 million acres of white oak in America alone
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it isn't necessarily regenerating at the pace that it should be to be sustainable
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So they found that 75% of all white oak acres in the country could be classified as what they call mature, which sounds like a good thing, right
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Until you realize, you know, these tall oak trees are forming a sort of shade canopy over, you know, the forest
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So these new seedlings and saplings of white oak need sunlight to grow
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So these massive white oak trees are covering up what would be the land these new trees would grow
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So 60% of these 100 million acres have no white oak seedlings at the moment, and about
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87% of them had no white oak saplings. So this is very, very concerning, because even though there are all of these older, mature
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white oak trees, there aren't new ones growing. And eventually, we just saw those numbers for the bourbon industry, they're going to
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start running out. And they say even in the next decade, it's going to be a very, very drastic situation
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And one of the things that's happening is, since these white oaks require so much sunlight to grow, other trees that don't require as much are starting to pop up in their place
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So we're seeing things like beechwood and maplewood starting to thrive in these areas
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that are typically known for their white oak. Again, just in general, you know, like, yay for those
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But also, for us bourbon drinkers, that's actually kind of concerning and scary, because
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where would we be without our white oak? And this is reinforced by a man by the name of Tom Martin, who is the former CEO of the
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American Forest Foundation. In 2019, he actually warned us. He said, due to the popularity of bourbon
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combined with ecological challenges and more, the demand for white oak logs is outpacing the
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regeneration of new young white oak trees for the future. So this has been a hot topic for these
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people for a long time. And like I said, they're getting support by the distilleries because they're
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realizing, hey, this is something that, you know, not necessarily that something that we can control
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as, you know, distillers. Yes, we're sourcing barrels and, you know, that's more of a cooperage
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kind of issue but even then you know if the trees aren't there the trees aren't there so
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scary stuff honestly um and i've seen a few different conversations about this on discord
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you know people are saying you know should we change the definition of bourbon does it have
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to be white oak that we use to make the bourbon barrels uh which got a lot of negative reactions
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you know like don't change bourbon don't mess with bourbon and you know what i kind of see both
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sides there i mean yes i love bourbon as is i don't want them to change you know the requirements
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I don't want them to loosen them because you saw what happened before those were in place. We got some really, really crappy whiskey
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Let's be real. But do I see potential for other types of wood to be used and experimented with
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Absolutely. I'm all for adapting, especially if this is an ecological situation that is kind of beyond our control
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Definitely adapt and change. It's kind of sad. But if we do have to loosen those requirements a bit, I do hope it's transparent
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And I was thinking about it earlier. I was like, what's a way that we can use different types of oak
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but not also mislead people. And I almost wonder if we could do something like
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you know how we currently have like bourbon finished in Oloroso Sherry cask. What if we do something like, you know, it's still a bourbon
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It still can be labeled a bourbon, but bourbon aged in, you know
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cherry wood oak or, you know, because we sometimes see like finished in or, you know
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double barreled in a different type of oak or not necessarily, I guess wood. I'm not a wood expert, guys
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I think it could be interesting. I like the idea of disclosing it because, again, it could be really fun to try different types of wood and see how it affects the whiskey i know
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talking to different people that are very involved in that industry a lot of wood doesn't do as well
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as oak oak just is like the perfect uh type of wood to make barrels out of it you know it doesn't
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it doesn't leak it's very dense and it does absorb the bourbon you know in and out based on the
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seasons a lot better than other woods um so oak is already the perfect formula but maybe there's
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some you know almost perfect wood out there that that would work much in the same way that bourbon
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does um it's a lot more sustainable to source so i again i don't really have too much of an opinion
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on this again it's not my industry i have no impact on it i am a bourbon drinker i would
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definitely buy something that was labeled as a different type of oak as long as it was you know clearly labeled but i'm curious to hear what you guys think this is something that we haven't
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actually talked about on my discord server yet which by the way if you guys aren't yet on it
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you can go to bourbonbites and scroll to the bottom you see a link to the whiskey and gaming lounge This is where we have all our conversations about the podcast live streams I give some sneak peeks for upcoming guests and of course Patreon supporters get access to our VIP lounge and private hangout rooms
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So, if y'all want to learn more about that, like I said, bourbonbites.com. But those of you that are there, please let me know what are your thoughts on, you know, the situation that's arising of the lack of white oak that's going to be available in the future
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Very curious to hear what you guys think. It is important to note that Brown Foreman has set a target to get 50% of their logs they're sourcing for their barrels from sustainably managed forests by the year 2035
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So a long way to go, but hey, at least they are committing to source from sustainable regions compared to these massive forests that are no longer growing white oak
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I would just hate to see the quality of bourbon suffer or the price of bourbon increase dramatically because of this issue
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I would like us to get it sorted out before we run out of white oak trees. I'm not completely opposed to changing that definition, especially, you know, because again, when a resource is endangered, I don't want to just because I'm stuck in my ways and, you know, want my bourbon to taste the way my bourbon should taste
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I don't want to, you know, kill a freaking species of tree. I mean, I care a little bit more about the environment than, you know, how my bourbon tastes
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But I do love my bourbon. So let's be real. finally since we are talking about numbers it goes without mention the top gaming news story
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right now is the fact that microsoft bought activision blizzard uh the game developer company
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for 68.7 billion dollars that's a lot bigger number than the 9 billion dollars that the bourbon
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industry is valued at so that's absolutely worth talking about now i don't have as much of an
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opinion on this as a lot of people do i've seen so many memes created about this um in terms of
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like paywalls and like block screens like log into your microsoft account some people shared some of
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those on our discord server um i i my fear is with these massive corporations being the you know
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meta or facebook and microsoft you know buying up all these iconic you know amazing design studios
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like where is this going to limit the creativity moving forward i think one of the best things
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about these smaller companies and i like how i'm saying smaller companies and be talking about you
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know activision but still you know as an independent company there was a lot more creative freedom and
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i i do wonder under the control of microsoft is anything going to change in that aspect so if you
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guys aren't gamers like no worries i had to look up the different games this this company makes
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the activision side of things makes all of the call of duty games so we know a huge freaking
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segment of the gaming market um they also do things like crash bandicoot which is a very fun
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game, Spyro, lots of the classic games, and also the Tony Hawk games, which I grew up playing
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So their biggest thing, obviously, is Call of Duty. The entire franchise is owned by Activision
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And Blizzard, which is the other side of the company, is known for things like Overwatch
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and Diablo and World of Warcraft. Also, huge, huge properties in the entertainment gaming industry
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Those I'm a little less familiar with, personally, because I don't play very many of those games
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I have played a good bit of Call of Duty not recently but like I said I don't have too much of an opinion
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on this about the games themselves I'm not really affected. We also have
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a Playstation 5, we have a PC we have a Nintendo Switch so we're very
21:22
diversified in terms of our gaming consoles I know certain people that only have
21:26
Playstations were a bit worried like hey is this going to make Call of Duty an Xbox
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exclusive which they've already said they're not going to be exclusive. There might be certain
21:34
exclusive aspects of them but they're not making the whole series exclusive
21:38
That would be a massive, it would either be a massive failure or it would, you know, completely destroy Sony
21:43
So I just hope we don't have to come to that. But yeah, I think it's, you know, obviously just a move because they see how big that Facebook and the metaverse and all that is growing
21:52
They know the future is in virtual reality. I hope so, at least
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I think that's, I definitely see that being the future of gaming. I think we all see that. It's not quite there yet
22:01
There are some really great experiences, but I don't think we're quite at the point where virtual reality is becoming fully mainstream
22:07
However, like I said last week, the PlayStation VR 2 is coming out hopefully soon
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So that might be a big, big moment for virtual reality. That's what I'm very, very excited about
22:17
So these things like this, while they are massive amounts of money and they're brands that people know and love
22:21
they're not something that I follow so closely. So I do want to hear your thoughts on that too
22:26
Please let me know in the arcade section of our Discord server. Are you worried about this? Are you excited about this
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I do know a lot of these games are coming to Xbox Game Pass, which a lot of people I know in our community have that
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so they're able to play these games for a monthly fee as opposed to buying the games they've already
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announced for sure that call of duty and warcraft were coming to the game pass but i imagine a lot
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more are coming as well by the way fun fact did you guys know that candy crush was actually owned
22:50
by activision blizzard i didn't i i love that game or i haven't played it honestly in a few years but
22:55
i really played a ton of that throughout college that was so much fun that i get a little worried
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about if you make that a microsoft phone exclusive even though you know that's not a thing anymore
23:04
I would be thoroughly pissed off a few years ago when I still played it
23:09
But yeah, that was a lot of news, a lot of numbers, a lot more money than I'll ever see in my life
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But I do want to hear you guys' feedback. This is something that I wish I could have done during a live stream to kind of hear your thoughts as well
23:21
If you want to send me a private message, you can always email me, contact at bourbonbites.com
23:26
Or, I haven't mentioned this in a while, but you guys can actually call into the show and leave me a voicemail
23:31
which I will play on the show if you want me to. otherwise you can just you know send me a message so you can give me a call at 818-660-5782
23:40
leave me a message and let me know if you want me to play on the show any message at all I actually
23:45
don't even care so send me anything and I will put it on the show as long as it's it's not vulgar
23:49
oh god am I gonna regret saying this I don't know we'll find out but until next time this
23:54
has been Bourbon Bites cheers and I'll talk to you next episode
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