We Tried Elijah Craig’s First Barrel Proof Rye And It Left Us Confused

Welcome And Responsible Drinking

SPEAKER_02 0:09

Welcome to the Whiskey Chasers, where we talk about our passion for whiskey and its history, either amongst ourselves or while interviewing distilleries. All while enjoying a glass. I'm Steve. I'm Nick, and I'm Chris. Please enjoy responsibly while enjoying this week's episode of The Whiskey Chasers.

SPEAKER_00 0:28

Next

Introducing Elijah Craig Barrel Proof Rye

SPEAKER_00 0:29

up, Elijah Craig.

SPEAKER_02 0:30

We've done a couple of different bottles of Elijah Craig on this one.

SPEAKER_01 0:34

We've done all bourbons. We've never done a rye.

SPEAKER_02 0:37

Okay.

SPEAKER_01 0:38

I don't think we've done a rye.

SPEAKER_02 0:39

I I think I agree.

SPEAKER_01 0:40

I think we've done it. But then the first rye that they came out with, Chris and I said, middle finger F you Elijah Craig. This sucks.

SPEAKER_02 0:46

Who said that?

SPEAKER_01 0:47

Chris and I because it was barely a rye. It was the sweetest shit you've ever found for a rye. It tasted nothing like a rye. For the Elijah Craig rye, yeah. It was so disappointing. Right. Which this is barely a rye. Right. And so then they did. I don't know if you guys remember last year for the club cookout. I found myself an Elijah Craig toasted rye that had just come out. We opened that thing, and I never had anything left after that day. We went through the whole thing. People went crazy for it. Guys in the club, wives went crazy for it. This is the first release of Elijah Craig barrel-proof rye. The very first one. This is the first one they came out with. First one they ever came out with. No, this is 2025. 2025. They've only released two of them, 2026 and 2025, because they don't know if this will work. That's been the the the assumption is it's a hit or miss.

SPEAKER_02 1:41

What's the normal proof point of a barrel board barrel-proof Elijah Craig? They vary.

SPEAKER_01 1:47

No, what it was. They do vary but what is it?

SPEAKER_00 1:51

Chris.

SPEAKER_01 1:53

Yeah, this is 108 for the rye. Yeah, that's I just saw that on there.

SPEAKER_00 1:59

I've seen them go all the way up to 140 something.

SPEAKER_02 2:01

Yeah, yeah. So 108 is a little little little weak, to be honest.

SPEAKER_00 2:06

If you ain't first, you're last. Shaking, shaking, bake, baby.

SPEAKER_01 2:10

It is Elijah Craig rye. Yep. Uh no age statement. Well, nope, I take that back. It does give an age statement on the front. Okay. Again, very first one they ever did. Uh straight rye, uncut, straight from the barrel. 8925, 108 proof. What is it? Eight. 12-year-old three months. Okay. So I again this this is the first of two that they've done. It makes me wonder if they just had extra shit laying around that they had to get rid of. I mean, after 12 years, how good is the rye? But here's what drives me insane. Is their rye isn't 12 years old. They've been they've been holding on to the rye, the Elijah Craig rye, before putting out for years in order to put out a 12-year-old rye. Yeah. Because it just came out on the market, what, maybe four years ago? It it's not older than the podcast.

SPEAKER_03 3:13

No.

SPEAKER_01 3:13

It came out after the after the club got started.

unknown 3:16

What day?

SPEAKER_01 3:17

The rye, the Elijah Craig rye. Because they did the toasted barrel and then they came out with a rye after the toasted. And the toasted barrel came out the very first year of the club. Because we had the toasted barrel for one of uh one of the the unicorn bottles.

SPEAKER_00 3:33

The toasted was always uh uh received well.

SPEAKER_01 3:36

But the people so but it j that toasted barrel bourbon had just come out like the first year of the club. That's the first year they released it.

SPEAKER_03 3:46

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 3:47

So the rye came after that. So we have not been around for 12 years, and this is a 12-year-old rye. How long have they been holding on to the rye and not releasing it?

SPEAKER_02 3:57

12 years, apparently.

SPEAKER_00 4:00

I think they had the they have stuff sitting back that they have no idea what they're gonna do with it until they decide what they're gonna do with it sometimes.

SPEAKER_02 4:09

I mean, you would think that they probably thought about that. I mean, they have the barrel-proof stuff they had to them. I could see where they're like, you know, this would probably make me think about this. Yeah, uh, but man, I'm kind of hung up on that proof point though. How can you get a barrel-proof whiskey 12 years old and have it only be 108-proof?

SPEAKER_00 4:34

Yeah, well, it aged down.

SPEAKER_01 4:36

It aged down water leaves first. So the very first Elijah Craig barrel pick that we ever had was from um Bristol, and that was almost a 12-year-old bourbon, but that was at like 132, 136, and that was barrel proof.

SPEAKER_00 4:53

Well, I'm just saying there are they water the only one that I know of is Cascade Hollows. So Cascade Hollow is Are they watering this down as they go? That's a thing.

SPEAKER_01 5:02

Texas does it yeah, you you you don't get to do that, and it would also mess it up.

SPEAKER_00 5:07

You don't put water in a barrel as it's aging.

SPEAKER_01 5:09

It's slow proofing, is what it's called. It is a thing. Oh, slow proof. Okay, that's something you usually just close. Yeah, okay. So how do you so are they putting it in real low?

SPEAKER_00 5:19

They're putting it in low, I guess. But I'm I was gonna say cascade hollows ages down. So 12 years makes sense.

SPEAKER_01 5:25

They also put it in a the cascade hollow puts it in underground. Underground.

SPEAKER_00 5:29

They're not putting theirs on the only ones that that age down. It proofs down as it ages, but so they've got to put it in at a low proof, they've got to be putting it at a low proof, and it's slowly aging up. That's the only thing I can think of, but still at 12 years. You think it would be aged? That would be you think it'd be proofed up a little bit more than that. Well, we're also people we're also smoking uh yeah, what are we smoking? We're smoking uh Stonehenge flavor. You gave it to me. Um so which we've had on the podcast before. It's such a good tobacco, no longer made, no longer in production. Hoping some point

The Proof Mystery And Aging Physics

SPEAKER_00 6:00

they come back out with it. It's such such a good tobacco. I think it'll go good with the Elijah Craig. If anything, it'll be a pleasurable experience.

SPEAKER_01 6:08

So Elijah Craig rye enters the barrel at 125 proof.

SPEAKER_00 6:13

Well, then how is it proof down? I don't know. That's it's gotta be proofing down as it ages. That's the only thing I can come down, can't come up with.

SPEAKER_01 6:20

So they say A925 came out as 108. That's not right. I mean, apparently it is. That's usually what happens when barrels age in a on a lower cooler floor of the brick house. That's exactly what I think. But but not for 20 years. You're not underground for 12 years. Like, what the maybe it's far enough down that it's enough. So they corrected themselves in a so in 2026 release, it's 120.4 proof. That makes more sense.

SPEAKER_00 6:48

So here's it.

SPEAKER_01 6:49

So the next release of this, the very next release, they're like, Oh shit, we did it's 126. 120.

SPEAKER_02 6:55

But you're gonna make that decision though. You can't say that because this is one year later, but you made the decision 13 years ago, right?

SPEAKER_00 7:06

I I think that they didn't make the decision 13 years ago. I think that they had these barrels from a specific spot in the Rick House and were like, let's do it with that. We're gonna come out with this. This is what it's gonna be. Was it a specific spot? Did they know this ahead of the thing? Maybe we should go higher. How did you even achieve that though? Like they must have a thing. That's what they must have had some barrel sitting in a weird spot or something.

SPEAKER_02 7:28

Like, it doesn't really, like, it's not it's not it's not science informing. Yeah, I can't figure out how the science works. Physics, right? Molecules that you're talking about.

SPEAKER_01 7:39

We talked about this idea of uh larger companies going, oh shit, we have too much product, we gotta put shit out, right? Yeah, is this them? Is this going we have too much product? And if we let it sit for longer, it's gonna turn bad. We tested it out one year. We didn't release anything but one for the year, which is unusual for a heavenhill barrel proof. The second year they went, We heard you, it was too low. Now we're gonna go, we're gonna go higher, maybe lower age, but higher proof.

SPEAKER_02 8:08

Like the only thing I can think of is that Elijah Craig doesn't do hardly anything at a low proof. They don't nothing is at a low proof, so they found this barrel, and we're just like oh shit, we can't put this, we can't prove this down. Like it's what are we gonna do with it? Yeah, we're I guess we're gonna do a barrel proof, I guess, but they can't prove it up. They can't prove it down, right?

SPEAKER_00 8:28

It could proof it down and make it like an 80-proof something, you know, I guess.

SPEAKER_02 8:32

But give it to Heaven Hell to make something else out of.

SPEAKER_00 8:36

What's crazy is this even drinks less less than in 108. I haven't tried it yet. I'll I'll save my comment so far.

SPEAKER_02 8:44

Yeah, I'm gonna try it before I smoke.

SPEAKER_01 8:46

Yeah, a 126 is actually younger than the one we're having right now by a year. So it's 11 years versus 12, but higher proof than what we're talking 12 points higher, proof-wise. I mean, heck, how old is that Parker's heritage does that have? 10 years? And that one's close to 130? Uh yeah, I would say so. And that's having hell. What what did we do wrong?

SPEAKER_00 9:12

I mean, I don't know. Every time you get a barrel proof um that's been aged for a significant amount of time, it's usually super proofy. So I I don't know. Other than Cascade Hollows, which was like 15 years old and 80 or like 8, like 89, like proof. So was this a money grab?

SPEAKER_02 9:29

Like I said, I I I just don't know they can do anything with a barrel that like it's hard, right?

SPEAKER_01 9:35

The the question's hard. You know, so before you answer, you you oh Steve, you sent me a podcast episode to listen to from someone else. They talked about the prohibition era, they talked about the decline of bourbon back in the day and the struggle to come back up. And that started out with seagrum's being the the thing they looked at, the big distillery. And back then we're talking what 20s, 30s. Probably was the 20s, so yeah, right after that. So there was four or five major distilleries at that point. Do you want to know who was a craft distillery at that point? All the big names for today. Yeah. Were craft distilleries, no namers at that point. That's crazy. How that how that was. Which is crazy. So they were craft distilleries right before probation. It makes a little bit more sense now that this may be a money grab because now we've gone through generations of think of if you've had grandparents that went through the depression or had family that went through the depression, they

Stonehenge Tobacco Pairing And First Sips

SPEAKER_01 10:40

their childhood was very different. They s they their family, they had the mindset of we finish everything, nothing goes to waste. Another generation after that, or two generations after that, it is everything goes to waste. Why would we use this? We're like consumers, yeah. Yes. So have we gone past that generation that says we have to hoard what we have? And this is a passion because we went through we went through prohibition, we were young guys, no-namers at that time, to now we have it all and we see the money, so we jumped the gun, and now we're seagrums at this point.

SPEAKER_02 11:26

So I'm gonna say it's not a money grab. Okay, also say for the same reason we were talking about earlier from that podcast. So uh the name of that podcast is called Whiskey Lore.

SPEAKER_01 11:38

I didn't remember it was more something I remember lore, but yeah, whiskey lore, and it's a great podcast.

SPEAKER_02 11:44

Uh, after you listen to ours, you should listen to theirs.

SPEAKER_01 11:46

It's very, it's it's very much like a storied history, like it is one guy reading a book.

SPEAKER_02 11:51

Uh he he writes books also, so he has books written about different uh eras. Here his last book was about Tennessee whiskey. Um uh I have not read any of them, but they're on my my my to-be-read. Um, but anyway, in this we were talking, and and he was talking about whether or not we're about to hit another depression era of whiskey. We disagree, so does he, that we're not gonna go into that. One of the reasons you said that we're not going to is because we have so much stuff sitting in wreck houses. Yeah, like they are just they are filled to the brim, uh, to the point where like there's no more room to put them. Like, that's that's where our issue is. So I don't think this is a money grab, I think this is a space clearing grab. That's exactly I agree with that 100%. Yeah, this is we need a new name, a new bottle, because we need some hype to get rid of these barrel bottles.

SPEAKER_01 12:45

So I would I would agree it is space clearing, but uh that maybe that aspect frustrates me coming from watershed and Cedar Ridge, where they don't have the space to begin with, let alone the product.

SPEAKER_00 12:59

I mean, I here's my thing. Here's gonna be this is my defense. If if we were if we made something, if we had if we made a product and we made so much product and and we didn't know what to do, and we had clear ideas for most of it, but there's gonna be some product we end up putting in a corner somewhere. And 12 years down the line, we're going through our inventory because it is a problem. We're like, we still have those things in the corner. Like, what are we gonna do with those? Let's come up with an idea and get rid of these.

SPEAKER_02 13:30

Also, that's what it is, it's 12 years old, yeah. So it's not like it's young, it's not junk stuff, it's not junk stuff, yeah. And it's a unique bottle, right? It's a barrel-proof 12-year-old bottle at 108 proof.

SPEAKER_00 13:45

Yeah, like that's a weird thing. But there's I just don't think there's anything malicious. I don't think there's anything wrong with with saying we have product, we need to get rid of it, let's market it and get rid of it. There's nothing wrong with that. People do that in other in other uh venues and other types of products and things, not just bourbon. People do it with all sorts of stuff. Yeah, it's extra inventory. Does it change repackage, change it, get rid of it?

SPEAKER_01 14:08

Does it change the passion or the reason behind why we started whiskey?

SPEAKER_00 14:13

Why we to release a very unique 12-year-old barrel-proof. Do you think the people that distilled it and barreled it at 12 years ago had any less passion than they do now, or with the with the products that turned out great? No, even if you if you distill a dud and it sucks, was a passion not there. Might have might have crap product, but that doesn't mean the passion wasn't there. The point of it's there, right? Like, I think sometimes you just have a bad uh it's just like iron vault would say. Like it, like you know, one day it was great and we tried it, and the next day it was junk. You know what I mean? I that doesn't mean the passion wasn't there.

SPEAKER_01 14:47

So I'm assuming they're trying to sell that stuff, too. No, I'm I'm I so I I look at this and I I look at Iron Vault, I look at Cedar Ridge, I look at Watershed, and I look at them, I look at Liberty Pole. They're they're they're they're fighting to figure out how to we how how how to take our passions further so that we could be out there more. And then I look at people like Sazerac. The biggest ones are probably Sazrak and Heaven Hill that they saw people want this, let's add on, to the point where they added on so

Money Grab Or Space Clearing Release

SPEAKER_01 15:30

much to where now they're going, oh shit, we have too much now. We just have to get rid of to make space for more. That's America, that's capitalism.

SPEAKER_00 15:41

That happens.

SPEAKER_01 15:42

But does that I I get that, but does that change the purpose behind why whiskey got its start?

SPEAKER_00 15:48

I don't think so. I think you're being successful, and and and and you might have gotten too big for your britches and and things happen. You know, shit happens, you know. Like I just don't think that that working your ass off and having an excess of inventory that you're now gonna have to figure out what to do with is a problem with ethics. I just think it's a problem with I have too much shit and I need to get get do something with it. You know what I mean?

SPEAKER_02 16:09

Okay, yeah. I would say that if Liberty Pole had the space and the means, they also would have overproduced. Right. Yeah, because they're passionate as Elijah Current Heaven Hill had the space and the means at the right time.

SPEAKER_00 16:26

If it shows anything, they're more passionate because that's a gamble. Yeah, you're usually utilizing resources that you you for a future promise of being able to sell it.

SPEAKER_03 16:35

Yeah, right.

SPEAKER_00 16:35

Because that that's that's that's an investment, right? And if it doesn't, what are you gonna do? Dump it? Were they gonna dump these 12-year-old barrels down the drain? No, they used them, they sold them, they marketed them. That's fine. I'm cool with it. Yeah, the intent I'm fine with. The whiskey itself, not that great.

SPEAKER_01 16:52

Not that great.

SPEAKER_00 16:53

It's it's okay, it's a swimming mess. This is this is a huge whiff. This is uh hey, you might get a 12-year-old uh bottle for some pretty cheap price.

SPEAKER_02 17:03

I'm I'm confused as hell. I don't understand how this bottle like it's a it's it's a unicorn. It it that's the thing, that's the part of this that makes this. I'm mad at it. Uh I uh what I'm really mad at is that I want to try the next one. That's really what pisses me off a little bit. Interesting, okay. Because this is an outlier, it's 108-proof. The next one that comes out is 126. 120.6. 120.6. So that's that's up to your normal.

SPEAKER_00 17:30

That's what I expect. This is an albino deer. Yeah, because it's like not much to look at, yeah, but they are pretty damn unique.

SPEAKER_01 17:39

It might be like an albino dough, and you're like, what the fuck? Can you do anything with that?

SPEAKER_00 17:44

Yeah, you don't see albino deers very often. You do what you're like, that thing's terrifying and and majestic, but also not like it's not a unicorn, you know what I mean? It's not it's not something special, it's just something different. You're like, that thing's got red eyes and white skin. That's not normal.

SPEAKER_02 18:00

This is this is instead of finding uh a mermaid, you find old Greg. Old Greg, yeah, yeah, old Greg.

SPEAKER_00 18:06

Yeah, that's right. Oh great. Or this is finding a mermaid and finding out that they actually do look weird, not like, not like the you've seen those videos, and you're like, this is what a mermaid would look like, and you're like, oh, ooh, brother. Like, no, I don't want to, I don't want any part of that. Yeah, I don't want any part of that.

SPEAKER_02 18:25

Um, so yeah, this uh yeah, we're gonna I think there's more to talk about it, but yeah, the the liquid inside is is weird. Um it's thin. It's thin for 12 years, so yeah, very thin for 12 years old. Like now, once again, no deck on finish. No finish. Um, it's two twice in a row we've had no. I know, I know. We're gonna have to drink something else. Well, thankfully, we did try something else earlier that did have a pretty okay finish on it. Um, but yeah, for these the for these bottles, a little lacking in that. Very lacking. Yeah, tobacco's good, tobacco's great. Um, yeah, I don't I'm just I'm I'm I'm confused by it. I'm a little bit angry with it. But I don't think they were deceiving, they're not deceiving us. They're not I'm not mad at Elijah Craig for doing it. I'm I'm more curious on how the hell they did. How how did this come about? Yeah, how did this happen? Is really what I'm and and I am curious on why you decided to release this as a barrel-aged product instead of just watering it down and adding it to something else.

SPEAKER_00 19:34

They could have done something else with it, but but it's 12 years, they probably didn't want to mess with it too much because it's 12 years, you know. Right, yeah, I don't know. They should have just added little portions of it to something else and called those products 12 years. You know how you get around that. You know, you add a little bit of a 12-year-old all of a sudden it's all it's all 12 years old.

SPEAKER_02 19:50

Yeah, they would have probably gotten a lot farther with it. But yeah, I'm not angry with them for releasing the product. They it this is very much on par with what Elijah Craig does. It is a barrel-proof there's not much they could have done with it. Rye, they've never done a barrel-proof rye before. Yeah, that was that was the new portion of it. But I don't think they'd done barrel proofs for the ride. They do, yeah. And are they doing it because rye is coming up?

SPEAKER_01 20:16

You guys have said rye is coming up, but but but well, it's coming up. Okay, okay. It's been coming up, it's been coming up. Yeah, Chris, you're you're a big rye guy like me. Is this a rye you would seek after?

SPEAKER_00 20:30

On paper, yes. Well, maybe not the 108 part, but uh, but everything I like if you said hey, Elijah Craig barrel-proof rye, what do you think? I'd be like, Yes, yes, yes, yes. Sounds good, sounds great, right? 80 bucks, yeah. That's fine. Okay, for it for Elijah Craig barrel-proof rye, yeah, that's fine. Yeah, but when then when you say 12 years, I'm like, oh yeah, for 80 bucks, you better believe it. Then you say 108, I'm like, wait a minute, that's weird, that's weird. But I'm still on board, and then I try it and I'm like, oh okay, that's why it's 80 bucks. You know, that could have been even less, but there's the thing is they're selling it. I guarantee they're selling it.

SPEAKER_01 21:08

Oh, it's a hard coin.

SPEAKER_00 21:09

So it's a great, yeah, it's a great investment for them. You know what I mean? Like, like they they made money, so ultimately it's success, you know. Steve is a guy getting into rye.

SPEAKER_01 21:18

Is this a little bit, yeah, is this one you would go after?

SPEAKER_02 21:21

No, uh, it again, the barrel, the bottle, not trying it, yes, yeah, on paper, right? Yeah, exactly. Yes, for sure. Elijah Craig is good at this kind of thing, they do barrel proof, they do all that stuff. They have they've had I've had their rye. I like their rye. You did like their rye, yeah. We we kind of crapped on it, but but again, I'm new to rye, which means I don't want to punch. Um, Elijah Craig rye is probably right up my alley because it's only 51% of rye. So, because of that, like this is an entry-level rye. That's what Elijah Craig is in general. So, because of that, yeah, I'm on board, but Man, that that low I like what's the proof point on their normal rye?

SPEAKER_01 22:07

I know 94, maybe 94. Um they don't even have to add that much water to it. It wouldn't take much. You might be right. It might be 92. I think it's uh it might be 94, 92 somewhere there. Um I think ninety-four.

SPEAKER_00 22:24

So this is just barely higher than even getting a 12-year-old for 80 bucks is like a sounds like a great deal. You know, it's just not like I said this this bottle is just a let down. It's just it's just it just didn't work out.

SPEAKER_02 22:38

What you're expecting is now what you're getting.

SPEAKER_00 22:40

It just didn't work out, yeah.

SPEAKER_02 22:41

It just didn't work out.

SPEAKER_00 22:42

It's I there's nothing about this that's when you sip it, there's nothing about this that says 12 years. Yeah, there's nothing about it that says rye, because it's already kind of a like you've said, an entry-level rye, and there's nothing about it that says barrel-proof. Yeah, so what is it? It's a it's an expensive so-and-so. I guess I don't know.

SPEAKER_01 22:58

Well, but you're already bus, you know. You're coming at it as someone that loves rye. You and I love rye.

SPEAKER_00 23:04

But Steve just kind of likes rye. He likes rye, but he's not he's still kind of.

SPEAKER_01 23:08

You're kind of uh entry, you are not you're not at the entry level anymore. You're slightly above. Yeah, I would say you're a journeyman there, there, Steve. Journeyman. Yeah, you're a craft rye guy. Uh you you're not entry, you're craft rye.

SPEAKER_02 23:21

No wonder. Don't sell yourself journey.

SPEAKER_00 23:23

Yeah, you're you're you're definitely in the in the thick of it.

SPEAKER_02 23:26

Yeah, like I I appreciate rye, it's not something I generally like reach out for, but I appreciate it. But you're needing, I know what I'm looking for.

SPEAKER_01 23:33

This is not something you're gonna grab again. This this same bottle.

SPEAKER_02 23:38

This exact bottle, it's drying it now.

SPEAKER_01 23:40

I want to try the I want to try 120. I was gonna say, has this bottle tainted the next experience for you?

SPEAKER_02 23:46

No, it's making it really. Yeah, again, it it yeah, a little bit makes me want the next one. Because I want to make sure that's not just this is for me, and this is gonna be controversial, and I think you're gonna be really upset with this, Chris. I

Indiana Jones Metaphor And Movie Tangent

SPEAKER_02 24:00

apologize. This is gonna be great. But here we go. For me, this is this bottle, this glass is Indiana Jones Temple of Doom. Oh wait, because because Indiana Jones Temple of Doom is for me my least favorite of the originals.

SPEAKER_00 24:15

Oh, yeah, yeah, that is that is controversial.

SPEAKER_02 24:17

Yeah, I I feel like you like that one a lot. I do like that one a lot. See, I just I dislike that one. I the the third one for me is the best one, but uh so because of that, this bottle is I've had Elijah Craig before, right? I've experienced Indiana Jones uh uh Ark of the Covenant, yeah, and I enjoy it. And so I went I went thinking, you know what, I'm gonna really like Temple of Doom. This is gonna be great. And then I was like, you know what? This is no good. I don't like this at all. But it's not terrible, and then it's like watch it if it was on. It's it's fine, yeah. It was it's better than the next one. If you're clicking through four and five. If you're clicking through now for me, I love I love if this is poor for me, it's fine. I'm not gonna get it again, but for me, Temple. So India Jones has had there's a certain thing that I'm looking for in India Jones, and and two does not have that, so it's it's you went too mystical. You you went away from archaeology and you went into you went into supernatural. Kaly May Ma Kalima. I love it, dude. I love that one.

SPEAKER_00 25:21

Dr. Jones, Dr.

SPEAKER_02 25:22

Jones, I just love that one, dude. So when I'm thinking about this, the next battle of this, I'm hoping, is Last of the Crusades. Because that one, I think, is going back to what it should be.

SPEAKER_00 25:35

It's 120 pre-that Timbled Doom is way better than that uh one with Shia LaBeouf, though.

SPEAKER_02 25:42

Crystal Skull?

SPEAKER_00 25:43

Yes, oh hell yeah.

SPEAKER_02 25:44

That was actually Jones is an odds series. Yeah, the first, the third, the fifth.

unknown 25:52

Which one's the fifth?

SPEAKER_02 25:53

The fifth one is the uh Dial of Dial of Destiny. The one where they got the very new one that went on the real CGI. I watched super CGI. I actually didn't mind it though. It was only CGI for that one part where he went young. Yeah, but uh everything that I I actually did enjoy that movie. I liked that one quite a bit. I like that one better than Temple of Doom.

SPEAKER_00 26:13

Well, okay, let's let's do this. Best back to the future. Which one?

SPEAKER_02 26:17

Back to the future, yeah.

SPEAKER_00 26:18

Yeah, but best one. I mean, this is a tough question. I couldn't tell you.

SPEAKER_02 26:23

I don't know that I've watched any of them all the way through. I think the first one is gonna be my I think I would agree. I uh I'm trying to remember, it's been a long time since I've seen the third one. That's when they go back to the old west. Um, I I but I feel like the third one's the old one is probably my second favorite, and then this the the second one's my least favorite.

SPEAKER_00 26:41

I do 100%. Yeah, 100% the same, same. Yeah, that first one is special.

SPEAKER_02 26:46

Yeah, that one's it's just right, it's so special. It's just I uh sorry to go on a movie tangent, but but um that I just saw I just saw something, it was a TikTok, but it was a guy, and he was like, the the uh exposition of a movie is like figuring out your background and stuff and doing all that. The first movie has the best exposition of any movie out there because the whole thing is Marty wants to get laid, he's with his girlfriend. That's really what it comes down to. She comes up and shakes this thing in his face, says save the clock tower and gives him a flyer. He goes back in time and he has the flyer in his pocket, he has and it's written with her phone number and I the I love you were written on the back of, which is the only reason he kept it because he's a kid, he's not gonna remember any of that shit. He's just planning to go on for the weekend. Remember that? He's going up to go camping or whatever. Yeah, he's not gonna remember anything about this clock tower and like trying to remember that all it's gonna strike midnight on this day. He doesn't know any of that shit, he doesn't care. He's trying to get laid. That's his only goal. But he went back in time and he had that flyer, so he didn't have to remember anything. As a character, it worked out perfect because if he would have had to remember, wait a minute, the clock tower is gonna get struck in a midnight tonight. Like, that wouldn't make any sense. He wouldn't know that, right? He wouldn't care, not his not his character, no, he doesn't care about it. His character doesn't care about it. It barely makes it clack. So he took back the flyer, and that's the only reason it worked, and it works out perfect. It all makes sense.

SPEAKER_00 28:10

The the whole movie was written just perfect, it was just a great movie.

SPEAKER_02 28:14

So, yeah, this bottle from this bottle from me is Temple of Doom. It is it is uh it lacks, but I've seen the first one. Is it as bad as Crystal Skull? Like it is not, but that doesn't work for my metaphor. I just hate to hear Temple of Doom like going through the mud. Yeah, it is better than crystal crystal skull is the worst one.

SPEAKER_00 28:35

Yeah, that is so it's not even in Indiana Jones, yeah. No, doesn't count. I never watched it all. I I quit halfway, like halfway through. I like was like, I can't do this.

SPEAKER_02 28:42

I watched it all the way through. There is a whole series of books called The Young Indiana Jones, and that was the goal of that movie was to get rid of Harrison Ford and move Shia Buff into the position and and so they could continue the series, didn't work out, but Shia Buff kind of went crazy after that movie, he probably would have profited off of that here. He sure would have, and there would be a lot more of them, yeah. But he he kind of went went off the deep end there. Just do it, just just just do it. Uh so yeah, but I am I look forward though to the next bottle that is the correct proof, or back up to 120. Why why is that the correct proof? Well, it's barrel proof, barrel proof, yes, yeah. That's enough said, you don't even have to elaborate. It's not correct, it's just it's barrel proof. Okay, so this doesn't make sense as a barrel.

SPEAKER_01 29:31

I feel like I'm being lied to because of the fact it says barrel proof and it's not and it's 108 and it's 12 years old.

SPEAKER_02 29:38

That doesn't that doesn't physically make sense.

SPEAKER_01 29:40

Like I don't understand how that's so because it doesn't make sense, therefore it can't fit.

SPEAKER_00 29:45

Look, just here just because it identifies as a barrel proof.

SPEAKER_02 29:49

I'm not saying that they're lying, I just feel like they are. I'm not judging you, but this is one of those things where it's like this is so unbelievable. I just I just don't believe you. I I don't think that they're lying. I like like I don't this is this I'm not I'm not saying they're lying about anything, I think that this is what it says it is, they believe it, and they believe it.

SPEAKER_00 30:11

It it identifies as 120 pro it identifies as a barrel proof. Yeah, it doesn't it it to it's real to them, yeah. It's kind of like but don't push that on me.

SPEAKER_01 30:24

Chris believes Temple of Doom is the best. I wouldn't push that on anybody else.

SPEAKER_00 30:31

I I I I have reasons, I can give you reasons why I think Temple of Doom is the best, but I think you have a valid point. It is a little bit out there, but I'm okay. Is it the best for you? Huh? Do you think it is the best? I like it. It's my favorite. I don't think it's the best one. I think it's my favorite. I think Raiders is the best. Okay, because again, it's sets the whole stage for everything. You know what I mean? I I I think in some ways you could say Crusaders is the best because he's got a this this whole father and son thing, and it dig digs a little bit more into his past, yeah, and a little bit more into the future, if you think about like how it sets itself up. But I think different aspects and things, but I wouldn't say that Temple is the best, I think it's my favorite. Okay, that's a difference, you know what I mean? I think Raiders is the best.

SPEAKER_02 31:11

So my my thing though is that barrel proof at 108 doesn't make sense, doesn't make sense, it doesn't fit. And so when I when I if I got this bottle and I didn't see the proof point written on the front of it, which is a little bit on me for not looking at the bottle, but I saw barrel proof, there's a certain expectation that I have that this is gonna kind of punch me. I expect a bit of a punch. I'm looking for a gut punch here. Yeah, do you think that they went because the next one they go up?

SPEAKER_01 31:42

Do you think they tried to go for the friendly and went they went rye and said if we do barrel, if we do more than this, it's gonna be two.

SPEAKER_00 31:53

That's the thing.

SPEAKER_02 31:53

There that that's the thing that I because it's barrel proof, you're you don't have a lot of decisions to make. It is what it is. You're picking a barrel. Um, so it's just I mean, that's that's my thing. Like it wasn't that they decided the next one's gonna be 120 proof, it's just all the rest of them are 120 proof. This is a they might have picked it in a different place, maybe.

SPEAKER_00 32:15

I mean, yeah, but it's still gonna be in that range. I wouldn't be surprised if they got the last bit of their 12-year-old 108-proof stuff barrel and bottled it up and then sold it. I don't think there's any more, they don't have any left, it's gone. They're they're like, we're not putting it in that spot ever again.

SPEAKER_02 32:29

This is unique because of that. Like, and I don't think that they could do it again. No, like that's the thing. Like, I like I don't think they have it.

SPEAKER_01 32:37

I don't think they'd want to do it again.

SPEAKER_02 32:39

No, I don't think so either. At least I hope not.

SPEAKER_00 32:41

I mean, maybe people try to sell it, maybe people really liked it. They should try to sell it as one of those like mistake things that make it super rare. You remember that? Like, where they have like those things where like this is super rare because they messed this part up, yeah. Yeah, like coins and stuff, like yeah, or like war books or games or whatever it is, or uh in there, like, oh, we gotta, you know, and people collect it because it's like this was a mistake. This was a mistake, yeah. That's what they should sell this as like whoops, it's 108 bottles. Last green whoops, it's super collectible.

SPEAKER_01 33:12

And if you're drinking it, they'll drink it.

SPEAKER_00 33:14

You buy it and put it on a shelf, and there's like a ha ha, I got 108 barrel-proof.

SPEAKER_01 33:17

Yeah, haha.

SPEAKER_00 33:21

This stuff was notorious for being crappy. Right.

SPEAKER_01 33:24

It's like I no longer paying a penny for a stamped penny kind of thing. Like, that's what

Collectability Talk And Value Expectations

SPEAKER_01 33:30

that feels like. Nobody is.

SPEAKER_00 33:35

It's crazy the value they put on stuff.

SPEAKER_02 33:38

Over the weekend at my mom's, and we were playing a game that involves pennies. And so I we we have this big old thing of pennies in the drawer for this game, and we were like in a lull. And so Amy and I were looking through them, trying to find your oldest penny, and we found one weedie. So one weeded penny. Um, and I as I was thinking about it, I was like, you know what? At home, I have a whole drawer full of weeded pennies from dad. And so I bet he I bet he went through all of this, like took it took a day and found all of the weaties and took them out because they're worth money, so they're worth something.

SPEAKER_03 34:13

Yeah, they'll be worth something something.

SPEAKER_00 34:14

That's right.

SPEAKER_02 34:15

They're worth like 10 cents now.

SPEAKER_00 34:18

Any pennies worth double, they've they've doubled in value. They did, yeah, yeah. If you had uh 1,000 pennies, man, you'd have 2,000. You had 1 million, you'd have 2 million. Jugs on you, it's $20. Yeah, that's a hell of a return, though. Doubled in value. I know, just the value shit, right? Although I don't think my shit has value. It's still only two pennies. A double, a double penny's only two, still only two pennies.

SPEAKER_02 34:49

But yeah, so that's that's my thing with this, is it's just not what I'm expecting. I'm looking for a punch and I'm getting a little slap.

SPEAKER_00 34:55

A little slap and tickle, not much tickle, like the bourbon's just really not doing much of anything. I think it'd be fine if you poured this and said, I got some Elijah Craig for you, and you didn't say anything else. I'd I would drink it and I'd be fine with it.

SPEAKER_01 35:07

You didn't say it was rye or bourbon, just a like Elijah Craig rye.

SPEAKER_00 35:10

Okay, yeah, I mean it'd have to be rye, but I would be like, Okay, it's good. I would if you told me it was 12 years, I'd laugh at you. You know what I mean? If you told me it was barrel-proof, I'd laugh at you. If you said this was 94-proof um Elijah Craig rye, I'd be like, Okay, it's pretty good, you know, because that wasn't good the first time.

SPEAKER_02 35:27

Right. Like, yeah, I was gonna say, you guys aren't gonna like Elijah Craig rye in general. Like, there's probably no version of it that you know.

SPEAKER_01 35:34

The toasted rye, I've gone through two or three bottles of. Well, the toasted rye was good, but that was different. That was something different. I was hoping for expecting more of this guy, and I don't know what I was expecting more of. Maybe the proof to pull up more flavor, but at the same time, I say that and I think I didn't like the normal flavor of Elijah Craig normal rye, so what would I like of uh barrel-proof?

SPEAKER_00 36:02

Well, but Elijah Craig, uh Elijah Craig like regular bourbon's alright, but Elijah Craig barrel-proof bourbon's really good.

SPEAKER_01 36:09

Yeah, so Elijah Craig rye is like barely, it's it's a barely rye. It's okay, but I I can't it is it's 51% rye.

SPEAKER_02 36:16

It is barely rye.

SPEAKER_01 36:17

It's Sazrak rye in the sense that it's rye. It's a baby. It's a baby rye. Yeah, it's a it's a it's a it might be in the the fetus still kind of rye, like it's it's barely there. It's there, but it like it's placenta, yeah. You still have to grow on the concept of it, which which drives me insane because uh Heaven Hill does so much rye. They they should do this well. But this is this might be the one rye that you and I have had that we're like, what what is wrong with you? What are you what are you doing?

SPEAKER_00 36:58

Like Heaven Hill does do rye very well. So what are you doing with this? I I just don't I think you're trying to I think you're trying to make sense out of it. You're trying to be like why figure out their decision behind this. I don't think they had one. I really think that they had this stuff and they were trying to get rid of it. So did they produce so much of it that they didn't know what to do? I think that they just made this stuff one day and they put it back there and they never found a re like use for it. And then one day they were like, we've got to move this. Well, what is it? Well, it's 12 year old and it's barrel-proof. Like, we're not gonna you want to proof it down? No, let's just put it in a bottle and sell it. I think that really think that's what it is. I don't think there's anything, I don't think they thought about this. I don't think they planned out for this. I think they just got rid of it because it sucks. Like, like it's that or dump it, and at least that like there's plenty of people that are gonna buy it, so they made profit.

SPEAKER_01 37:51

Are they trying to get rid of their rye and just keep their toasted rye? Because the toaster rye did well.

SPEAKER_02 37:55

Could I dunno, could be I think so. Here's the thing. I and this wasn't in our predictions at all, but my I do have a new kind of prediction, and it's because of this glut that we have. We have so much whiskey that's just sitting there, and they need to move it. I'm wondering if we're gonna have a lot more high proofs just because you they don't want to water, they don't want to make more, so they're not gonna water it. They just want to be done, yeah. So because they they they just they have these barrels and need to get rid of them. So let's do a higher proof so that I can move two barrels instead of one.

SPEAKER_00 38:31

That's a good point, because that's gonna move product, yeah.

SPEAKER_02 38:35

And so I am curious, and maybe there was a little bit of that.

SPEAKER_00 38:38

And people are always gonna pay twenty dollars more for a barrel proof. I've always said that. Yeah, I've always said you got about 20 bucks more for a for a for a and honestly, you get more bang for your buck. You do because you could you could feather that yourself. You could add some water, whatever, you could stretch it, whatever you want to do with it. Barrelproof stuff is great in cocktails if you like, if you really like alcohol, um, anything barrel-proof cocktail-wise is like way better than regular when when you actually like drink, like when you get used to drinking actual like like like like good stuff, yeah. Yeah, and that'll I mean, uh, because I don't like cocktails, but if you make it with barrel proof, I'm gonna like it. You know what I mean? Like because otherwise it's like way too nothing. It's just sugary, whatever. But yeah, but yeah, so I think that um yeah, I think that's a good point, Steve. I do think that that might be something we see a lot more of, but it might just be because they need a move product.

SPEAKER_02 39:29

Yeah, and so I don't blame them, they're not gonna dump that. Yeah, this came out in September of 205. That was the first barrel of this. They've released another one already, right? Which they normally do four a year, right? That's kind of how they normally do their barrel proof.

SPEAKER_01 39:45

125, 126.

SPEAKER_02 39:46

Oh, okay.

SPEAKER_01 39:46

So that's that's all they've done, yeah.

SPEAKER_02 39:49

Yeah, and we may not see it as much with bourbon.

SPEAKER_01 39:52

We mean the rye.

SPEAKER_00 39:53

He's talking about the bourbon.

SPEAKER_02 39:54

Yeah, yeah, bourbon releases more of a box. Four times a year. This the the rye they've got so we may not see this as much with rye, just because it's probably not as much rye sitting around. More of it's gonna be bourbon. But but I do wonder if we might see more of that kind of thing going in and why they decided to do this. Now, I I am curious on why they did it with this barrel. Again, because of it being 108-proof, you're so close to it being normal rye. Why not add a few drops of water and make it just and it just do it and then grab one of those other 120 barrel barrels that is

What They Should Have Bottled Instead

SPEAKER_02 40:30

your normal barrel proof?

SPEAKER_00 40:31

They couldn't sell it for 80 bucks.

SPEAKER_02 40:33

Well, how much do they sell their barrel-proof bourbon?

SPEAKER_00 40:35

That goes up there, it gets up there. Yeah, I think MSRP is probably 80, but 80, 90, but you know, but anywhere, but it goes up there. Well, because I'm assuming this is gonna go the same way, but I do think that there was a time where some of their barrelproof stuff was like in the 1220s or something. So I don't know, maybe I'm wrong about that. Maybe it changes. I don't know. But I but I think if they were to water this down and sell it as what, like a 12-year-old, yeah. What would you do for that? I mean, that's a 12-year and 94-proof, yeah. That would really be shitty. It would taste bad.

SPEAKER_02 41:04

Yeah, because this already doesn't taste great for what they tried 12 years.

SPEAKER_00 41:07

I wonder if they tried it. I wonder if they tried to water this down and were like, oh, but it's barely gonna work. Yeah, what are we gonna do? Yeah, I would have mixed this with some other stuff and called it a 12-year. I would have mixed this with something actually had some some you know girth to it.

SPEAKER_02 41:20

Some of that 120 proof, put this in it, make it make it 112 and call it a day. Or make it call it one, you know, one.

SPEAKER_00 41:28

Yeah, 120, yeah, 117, and then be like, this is a 12-year-old. It's not barrel proof, it is blended, you know what I mean? But yeah, that's what I would have done with it. But but hey, we're not them, so people will buy it, and that's the thing is they probably sold all people bought, they made their money, and again, the next spiral is that 120 or whatever. But if you think about it, they're still successful because now I want to try the other one, yeah. Exactly. So they they got two out of me, you know what I mean? I don't know that I want to, you know.

SPEAKER_02 41:57

No, I think I'm I'm but again I'm done. Yeah, I don't think you're the right clientele for this bottle. I want to try one.

SPEAKER_00 42:02

Would you try one for 80 bucks there, Steve? Yes, I would too.

SPEAKER_01 42:06

You would for 120 or 120 proof?

SPEAKER_00 42:08

I want this.

SPEAKER_01 42:09

Would you not would you try it for 80? Would you buy it for 80? I'd buy it. Yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_00 42:14

Okay, okay. Or at least get a glance of it. Like I've tried, I've paid for it. Yeah, yeah, I'd like to try. I want to try, I would love to try it side by side with this. I'd love to have 120 some proof Elijah Craig rye right now and try it. And maybe that sucks too. I don't know, but at least we'd know. Yeah, I want to know. I'd like to find out.

SPEAKER_02 42:33

If the one if I try the 120 sucks, and I don't like that sucks, then I'm done, then you're done. Yeah. And if this one was 120 and it tasted like this, I wouldn't want to buy another one. The reason I want to buy another one is because this one is an outlier for the hopes that it's something more.

SPEAKER_00 42:48

This is something that's a good point. If this was 120 and we had the same, like we were didn't like it, I would be done. I wouldn't want to know. I definitely wouldn't be normal. I definitely wouldn't be like, I want to try that 108 one. No, no, I wouldn't want to do that. But you know, Elijah Craig barrel proof, especially when you get the real proofy ones, it's a good it's good stuff, like the bait, the bourbon, it's real good stuff. Yeah, so I don't want anybody to be like, Oh, Elijah Craig Barrelproof's good, you know. But this one's not, it's not, yeah. This one's not, but it's been fun to drink it and talk about it and smoke stone, uh yeah, some stone hedge. Stonehenge, yeah. It sucks that it didn't go well. Yeah, it did not pair.

SPEAKER_02 43:24

It didn't pair. We usually do pair. I don't know what would have paired with this thing because nothing really.

SPEAKER_00 43:30

This is it's just so thin. It's uh maybe well, I guess a basic uh how you could have done an aromatic might have been nice with this.

SPEAKER_03 43:38

I don't do that very often.

SPEAKER_00 43:43

Captain Black. No, you know what? Sir Walter Raleigh, right? Aromatic, an old codger blend. That would have been good. And everybody would have said it smelt good. But yeah, I don't know. Uh the it's it's been palatable, yeah, of an experience. I've enjoyed

SPEAKER_02 44:00

I'm gonna finish my glass. Like, I don't like despise it. It's not, it's not like it's trash, it's just not what I wanted in this bottle.

SPEAKER_00 44:07

Yeah, it's not like the some of the American single malts that I've had, and I'm like, I don't even want to finish this. You know what I mean? It's it's drinkable, it's definitely not, but for well, look, we're judging this because it's 80, 80, and it's it's touting, it's boasting, you know, it's barrel-proof rye, and it's none of those, it's none of these things, it's not worth 80 bucks, it's not rye, really, and it's not barrel-proof. But for a non-ry drinking, it is 12 years, I guess, but that I don't, I'm not like, wow, this is smooth, you know what I mean? Wow, this has got some uh nice uh well, all the edges are softened. No, it's actually not. Like, I don't think I couldn't tell the difference between this and a four-year legend.

SPEAKER_02 44:48

I don't know that you will like the 120 proof version of this. I might not, because it's it's not gonna be rye. It's still a pretty light rye. It's gonna be a light rye. It's just gonna be a high free. I think I think I'll like it. I think I think I'll still enjoy it because it'll have rye essence, yeah, but it won't be and and for me, it's probably still will punch me a little bit, but it's still gonna be a you know, I'm not boxing, it's gonna be a fairly light, light punch, but I'm still gonna be exp. Um it's what's what I'm looking for. You're hitting the bag. So I know what I'm getting. Yeah, and for me, that's that's probably about what I'm wanting. Because when you get to that really high proof plus a rye, it gets to be a lot, it gets to be a lot, and so for me, that's not what I'm looking for every day.

SPEAKER_01 45:33

I like a lot, I like that, but not everybody does. I like it a lot. I like it sometimes, but so okay, so watershed

Rye’s Rise And Who This Fits

SPEAKER_01 45:40

rye compared to this. What about it? You just you can't compare them.

SPEAKER_02 45:45

Why would you even I got no comparison? Yeah, there's no you can't you can't compare it. Why? But why? Why is there flavored completely different? They're both older, but yeah, the the You got nine to twelve. Nine to twelve, but you also have 140 something to 108. Yeah, yeah. Your proof is different, your mash bill is different, it's an actual rye. Thank you. Like it's a full, it's a full rye.

SPEAKER_00 46:09

It's it's that's like me drawing a picture and comparing it to the story night. Right. Okay, it's just not the same.

SPEAKER_01 46:14

But the reason I ask that is because for the for a while now, Chris and I have said rye is gonna become the next big thing. It's gonna, it's gonna be a good incline, right? You can't say it has it, it has an incline going up. Yeah, but when you see rye on a label as a non-Rye drinker, your immediate thought is, oh hell no.

SPEAKER_02 46:38

But it's Elijah Craig, you know Elijah Craig, you've had Elijah Craig.

SPEAKER_01 46:42

I know, but the listeners don't quite understand there's a rye difference.

SPEAKER_02 46:46

I know that, but they've had a bourbon, they've had Elijah Craig bourbon, they've been a fan of Elijah Craig bourbon for a long time. Right now, they want to try a rye. Oh, I know Elijah Craig, I know their bourbon, I'll try their rye. Why? And so they're because they know their they know their bourbon, so and they're the name. Yeah, I know the name. Okay, I'll give that a try. Okay, so they'll try it, and they'll probably like it because they're new to rye. Okay, so this is a it's a light rye. It's kind of it's your it's your bridge rye. This is your entry. I think for those people they might like it quite a bit, other than the fact that the proof point, which is exactly who Elijah Craig is going for, which is why I think bourbon drinkers.

SPEAKER_00 47:21

I think a 12-year-old Elijah Craig rye at 120 proof sells for a non-ry drinker it sells.

SPEAKER_01 47:28

Yeah, well, yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_00 47:30

For like a yeah, but it's it sells, you know what I mean? I I just don't think this one does, but I actually think it sells probably even more, you know what I mean? Not this one, but everyone else does, yeah. Yeah, but I I don't think that like like you said, I don't think me and Nick would like it either way.

SPEAKER_01 47:43

No, I don't think I would. Yeah, I I probably will never buy another bottle of this because I I was hope. So my hope was Elijah Craig rye normal sucks. Elijah Craig toasted rye better. I was hoping this was the third step up. But you know why we like Elijah Craig toasted?

SPEAKER_02 48:03

Yeah, but it's only 108 proof. Yeah, so that's the thing. If you're looking at the biggest, I didn't look at the proof, I just looked at barrel, I just looked at barrel proof.

SPEAKER_00 48:09

That's what I went to. And but we also liked Elijah Craig to uh rye toasted because of the toast, not because of the rye. You think that's what it is? I I really don't know what it is. I remember drinking that and being like, I really like this. It's not like rye, but I'd like it the way that I would like other whiskey. You know what I mean? Got it.

SPEAKER_01 48:27

We didn't look at it as a rye, we looked at something else.

SPEAKER_00 48:30

You remember that as a toast? We were like, this is really good, it's unique, it's different. It's not rye, it's unique, it's different. We look at it as a whiskey, we didn't look at it as a rye. This one we're really kind of judging as a rye, and it's we are, it's not, yeah.

SPEAKER_01 48:42

It's good, it's fallen short of a rye as a whiskey, it's okay.

SPEAKER_00 48:47

As a whiskey, it's really it's really not okay for the price. As a rye, I don't care if it's 12 years old or not, it sucks. But uh but yeah, I I I think I think if this was 120 proof for a whiskey, it's okay. Yes, I think that's how that's how I would feel about it. I don't think it would knock my socks off. I even think Steve would be like, it's good, you know what I mean? I don't think he would pay 80 bucks for it. I think he would like to try it, but he'd be like, I wouldn't pay 80 bucks for it. I think that's what you would say.

SPEAKER_02 49:17

But the bourbon would never be a like Elijah Craig collector. Like, I'm not gonna buy every one every year or anything like that. You know what I like about Elijah Craig?

SPEAKER_00 49:24

I like to I like to try to get the ones that were the highest proof you could get because it was like freaking gasoline back in the day. You know, you got 140 some proof Elijah Craig, some of the hottest shit out there, besides you know, uh stag junior or whatever. You know what I mean? Like it was it was up there, it was like one of the highest ones you can get. Now you can get a lot of stuff that are high as high proof, but I'm talking like, you know, what seven, eight years ago, something like that, when the you know, before when we said barrel proof was going out. Actually, more than seven or eight years ago, because Henry wasn't even born yet. I I was going after this, like I was like looking for the highest proof of Elijah Craig I could get. I loved it. It was good. I was like, man, this stuff is like fire water, like literally, you know, but I wasn't doing it so much for the taste. Taste was okay. I was doing it because it was decently tasting and it was high proof, you know what I mean? Like it was freaking gasoline, and I liked it. And I still like it, I still have a pretty high proof out there. Elijah Craig. I should look at that one. I don't know, it's it's high up there. Um I've finished all of mine, I think. I have a larceny. I got a larceny as well. Yeah, yeah, I got a few out there.

SPEAKER_02 50:28

So for me, there's a lot of I would call this bottle a dud.

SPEAKER_00 50:32

Yeah, this is a dud. Who paid for this?

SPEAKER_02 50:36

Sorry about that. Steve. What was that, Steve? Come on. Uh unfortunately, I I think I would probably call the Cedar Ridge one, the last one we had, also a dud. Really? But but the flip side to it is that that's the kind of dud I'm looking for. And so, like, those are the that's a different category of dud. Like some duds are like, I'm really mad at this.

SPEAKER_00 50:56

It didn't purport to be something it wasn't, it just wasn't uh it just lacked a it just wasn't for me.

SPEAKER_02 51:01

That's what I wasn't for me, yes. Yeah, and so like I don't feel bad for it or anything else, it's just this is not what I would be looking for.

SPEAKER_00 51:08

And if I got it we said we wouldn't be upset if we got it and we tried it. This one, I think if I paid 80 bucks for it, I would be upset.

SPEAKER_02 51:14

And if that one was 80 bucks, I would be a little bit more upset. It was for 55 bucks, it's different, you know. For this one at 80 bucks, I'm a little, I'm a little upset. But yeah, so I would call this one this one a bit of a dud because of that. But not so much that I wouldn't try the next one, uh, only because again, this one is an outlier at that proof point.

SPEAKER_00 51:36

You know what they should have done with this? They should have

Passion Versus Business And Closing Thoughts

SPEAKER_00 51:40

they should have bottled this as Elijah Craig 12-year rye. That's it. And then not touch not touch the proof as a limited edition, kind of like just as a 12-year rye. And I think that if we had gotten this as a Elijah Craig 12-year rye, we still wouldn't like it. No, no, that I would have bought it. I would have a pre- I would have understood what it meant. I think I would have, but the fact that they put barrel proof on there as the big thing, and they just put 12 at the bottom, it changes it, right? And all of a sudden it's like it's not what it's supposed to be. But if they had just said 12-year rye, period the end, and then they didn't touch the proof and it just came in at 108, whatever. That's what it is. I think I would have been, I would have been able to swallow it a little bit more and be like, okay, it's a 12-year-old rye from Elijah Craig. I don't like it, but that's what it is. Yeah, the fact that it's a barrel proof and it sucks, like at 108, you're just like, this is not. That's I think that's where they messed up. It should have came out as like a special release, kind of a 12-year rye, and they should have been one and done and and that would and then moved on. Then they could have done a barrel proof rye later on. But that's what they messed up. They shouldn't have put barrel proof, they should have put 12 years.

SPEAKER_02 52:40

12-year rye. That's it. Marketing does matter. Yeah, and they switched up the marketing mess up on this one. If they would have reversed it, I still don't think I would like it. Like, I would like it, but I would understand it.

SPEAKER_00 52:50

But I but I wouldn't be as upset about it. It would make sense. Yeah, I'd be like, okay, yeah, yeah, that's exactly what this is. It's 12-year rye, it's a light rye, doesn't really taste like 12 years, but okay, whatever. I wouldn't even have thought about the proof. It would have just been like, okay, it's 108. And I think we would have been like, wow, that really drinks lower than 108. That's what we would have said. That's a low, that's a low proof 108. You know what I mean? That's all we would have said about it. You know what I mean? They would have been like, I don't like it. That would have been it.

SPEAKER_01 53:14

I'm kind of gonna slide back into hopefully short tangent, back into this fits my idea that we have too much shit, we have to get rid of it, and it sucks.

SPEAKER_00 53:24

I think that's exactly what we all agree with this point that that's what they were doing.

SPEAKER_01 53:27

It's a money, uh, not a money grab. It's it's a loss of passion. We have too much shit. Let's go on. Now that's where I disagree. Yeah, the passion doesn't change.

SPEAKER_02 53:34

Yeah, I don't think it's a passion thing.

SPEAKER_00 53:36

But the distilling is in this distilling it is distilling is distilling. If you got it, it got it. It's still a business. Business is a thing, whether you like it or not. Here's the thing: this is what it comes down to. These are not starving artists. Loyalty. There are artists that I that I love their work. There's some of the stuff that they painted I don't like. That doesn't mean I hate the artist. There's uh authors that I love their work. Some of the stuff that they've written, I cannot stand it. That doesn't mean I don't like the artist. Does that mean he was less passionate when he wrote those books or less passionate when they when he drew those or painted those pictures? No. Some things hit and some things don't. It all comes down to like, I mean, that's what really what it's artistry. You know what I mean? Sometimes you're on it, sometimes you're not. But if you are so like fair weather as to, I really like it, I really like it, or you made something I didn't like, I don't like it anymore, and you don't have any passion and and and it sucks and everything sucks. I don't think that that's a good position to be at. I think that you need to understand that some people can't do things 100% all the time. I don't think uh Heaven Hill is is is is less passionate because they came out with so they made something and they decided to sell it. I I think it's better because if you're an artist and you were to paint something that most people don't like and you destroy it, I think that's worse. Because that's art. Don't destroy it, right? There's somebody, there's something, there's somebody who's gonna enjoy that art. And I think there's probably people that enjoy this. So I think, look, I don't think it's a passion problem. I think even if they were like, we're getting rid of this, it's not what we want, it's not up to our standards, it still doesn't mean that they weren't passionate when they made it.

unknown 55:11

Right.

SPEAKER_00 55:12

And it doesn't make it a money grab. They're a business. At the end of the day, what do you want them to dump bourbon? That's a travesty. Look, I if there was no bourbon in the world, I'd still drink the shit out of this, right? Because I like or ripe or whiskey, I guess I should say, but I like whiskey. I still think this has more passion than most things, you know what I mean?

SPEAKER_02 55:30

So yeah, I don't I don't think I the only way it would go to like no passion is if they were closing their doors and then they were selling all their stuff off and just doing a flash sale. Honestly, if they sold this for 50 bucks because they were closing their doors, doing like a just a final sale sort of thing. I hate those sales. I hate those flash end of company sales because that is that that is saying, yeah, my shit isn't worth anything, so I just let's just get rid of it so I can try to, you know, yeah, pay back the bank whatever I can.

SPEAKER_00 56:01

Which but you also you even that you can't even disagree with. I do the same thing in that position, right? What I think of lack of passion is white labeling, true white labeling. I can't get behind it.

SPEAKER_03 56:12

Yeah, okay.

SPEAKER_00 56:12

That is a lack of passion because you never had, you never even had, you aren't even an artist. You are a forgery. Yeah, that's all that is. Yeah, you're just a reseller. Yeah, you are literally buying somebody else's art and selling it as your own. That is the worst kind of thing. But so I I really just don't I don't like that idea that they that they're it's a money grab. I don't think it is. It's a lack of passion, I don't think it is. So is it getting rid of product that they made that they might not be the most proud of? Yeah, but you know what? There's people out there for that. Yeah, that's fine. There's nothing wrong with that. And I would do the same thing if I were to make tables, I know that some would be better than others, especially like you know, with material or whatever. Yeah, that doesn't mean I'm gonna just like burn the ones that suck, you know, and I'm still gonna sell them. That doesn't mean my passion's any less. You know what I mean? I I you know, I think that some collectors might appreciate those shitty pieces more. Again, that's what I was saying with this one. Like this could be something that people appreciate. This was our 108 barrel proof, you know what I mean? What the whoops, okay, you know what I mean? I'd appreciate that, you know. But yeah, I just I don't think that's a lack of passion, and I don't think that it's a money grab. I just don't. I don't see it as that.

SPEAKER_02 57:22

It's fair. Is that fair? That's that's fair, gentlemen. Next time we'll try a non-dud.

SPEAKER_00 57:28

A non-dud.

SPEAKER_02 57:29

Yep, that's where that's where our goal is here. Our goal is that. Yeah. We'll see. Till next time.

Support The Show And Sign Off

SPEAKER_02 57:40

Thank you for listening to the podcast. If you want more great content and other perks, be sure to support the show by clicking the link in the show notes. We can be reached on our website, whiskey tasterspama.com, with any ideas for the show. Thanks again.