Wigle Wapsie Bourbon!

SPEAKER_04 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. Oh, 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. What are we drinking first? Wiggle Wiggle.

SPEAKER_03 0:31

Yeah, we got some uh Wiggle Whiskey. I I believe it's pronounced Wiggle. I'm not entirely sure. I think you're right. What else could it be? Weigle? Weigel? Yeah, someone said Weigel.

SPEAKER_01 0:44

Well, it is from Pittsburgh. So why would it be W like why would the W Weigel? Is it Wigle? Beagle? I don't know. Well, it is Pennsylvania, right?

SPEAKER_03 0:57

So maybe, maybe what would they say while you were there?

SPEAKER_01 0:59

You know, I didn't ask.

SPEAKER_03 1:00

They never said. Here it's Wigle. I never asked, you know.

SPEAKER_01 1:04

It's gotta be Wiggle, right?

SPEAKER_03 1:06

But I uh I got the chance to go over there. It's only two and a half hours away from us, maybe three hours at most. Yeah, Pittsburgh's not far. No, it's not far at all. And they do some interesting stuff. They're all made there, they're all distilled there. There's something with Pennsylvania whiskey that they like to finish, so they're big enough finishings. That's where you guys tried that scotch, that uh rye that was finished in the Lafroy barrels that came from them. They're very proud of their bourbon. This specific bourbon, because I think they also do uh cast strength, like a single barrel version of their rye and their bourbon. But this one has got red corn in it, but not butchers. It's not the bloody butcher corn, it's a different red corn that they use, red corn variant that they use. And I tried it there, and my first thought was heck yeah, let's see what you guys think because you guys like Jeff the Creed, and this is gonna be something a little different for you guys. So 7 30 in the morning, we're gonna crack this video first.

SPEAKER_01 2:08

Let's do it. A new bourbon, 7 30 in the morning. Gotta love it.

SPEAKER_03 2:12

They're great over there if you ever get a chance to go over.

SPEAKER_01 2:15

I guess I didn't ask you this before, so I'll ask you now. What what like did you randomly hear about this place or like so what didn't what made you there?

SPEAKER_03 2:24

Um, shout out to one of uh the guys, one of our listeners. Uh I don't remember his name, and it's gonna kill me. Wow, fail. I know, right?

SPEAKER_00 2:34

That's amazing.

SPEAKER_02 2:35

That's a major problem.

SPEAKER_03 2:36

He should have just made one up because we got a we got a guy that listens to the podcast uh pretty regularly. I mean, uh, it'd say he's a good follower of the podcast. He uh he recommended Liberty Pole Distillery, and so when he recommended that, I went, Well, what's what's unique about this? And I found out okay, they're in Pennsylvania. Then that got me thinking, okay, what else is out in Pennsylvania? Because Pennsylvania is kind of the godfather of Rye, I guess you could say. That's where Rye kind of got its start. Very tight cork. Very tight. Uh, but that's where Rye kind of got its start. So I thought, well, what else is out there? And when I went looking, this was one that popped up almost right away.

SPEAKER_01 3:19

Okay, so you actually went looking.

SPEAKER_03 3:21

Yeah, I went looking. Um, I knew nothing about this place until I went there. All I knew was they're out of Pennsylvania, their rye was apparently to die for, like, really, really good. It's the old traditional style of Pennsylvania rye that they do. I knew nothing about their bourbon. I knew that they made bourbon, but this wasn't like their thing, if that makes sense. Like, this isn't like, hey, we're we're known for our bourbon or we're uh we market just our bourbon. They're they're big on marketing their rye. So I go there and I see that they've got bourbon finished in stout barrels. And I'm thinking, okay, well, this is gonna be if they're doing finishing like that, they've gotta have, I would assume, decent bourbon. And I tried their cast strength, single barrel, wonderful. And the uh the gal that was like guiding us through tastings of like, hey, what do you want to try? She said, if you're into unique bourbons, this is one you gotta try, or Wopsy bourbon. It's called Wopsy. Not whoopsie, and I keep thinking thinking whoopsie. It's Wopsy bourbon, wiggle and wopsy, yeah. Why uh uh wiggle wopsy. Uh it's their Wopsy bourbon. And she said, if you like like earthy, you're gonna love this. Ironically, she had never tried Jeff the Creed, and I was like, if you like this, you gotta go, you gotta go to Jeff the Creed.

SPEAKER_01 4:44

So they're doing a good amount of things.

SPEAKER_03 4:46

They are, they're doing a lot of things. Steve did a I'm hoping did a lot of research on this guy. Well, as much as I could, right?

SPEAKER_04 4:54

When you deal with these small little distilleries, there's usually like their website, and if you're lucky, uh like a Wikipedia page. Yeah, and that's kind of the end of it. Yeah, so and that's kind of what that's how what these guys are. So it is wiggle, at least I think so, because even the pronunciation isn't super helpful. Uh the pronunciation is W-I-H slash G-U-L. Queagle.

SPEAKER_02 5:22

Queagle, Quigle, like a Kegel, but for bourbon.

SPEAKER_01 5:27

Uh, I love this. Pull cork with spirit. That's weird. Like off the do you see that? It's so random. Pull cork with spirit. I don't think they're trying to be fitting there, but it's just it's a tight cork and they're acknowledging it.

SPEAKER_04 5:40

Dude, is that a it's a pot still?

SPEAKER_03 5:43

Oh did you think it was a pipe?

SPEAKER_01 5:45

No, I thought it was a little sperm.

SPEAKER_02 5:46

You get what I'm going with there? 7:30 in the morning, way different way than we thought.

SPEAKER_01 5:51

Yeah, that hits a little harder. It looks like a sperm going right to the egg. Yeah. Okay. So Huigel. And they're very it means big letters. What uh Wopsy Bourbon.

SPEAKER_04 6:01

Wopsy bourbon. So it's named after Philip Weigel. Weigel. Uh, and he was uh during the whiskey rebellion. So he got in a little toughed with a tax collector there. And so kind of like you and us. What's that? It's kind of like you and us. Exactly, yeah, exactly.

SPEAKER_03 6:20

Yeah, we kick you off for a certain amount of time because you're a tax collection.

SPEAKER_04 6:23

Right, because I'm a tax collector. So weird for my spot as the libertarian in the group, but but yeah, so Peter there, he um got in a fight with a tax collector and kind of kicked off the whiskey rebellion or was one of the those main first starts to do that. As you do, he was captured uh and was sentenced to prison. At this point, he was sentenced to be executed, actually, because at that you were essentially fighting the government during this. Uh, but uh Washington pardoned a whole bunch of these guys, including him, at the end of the Whiskey Rebellion. So he survived and moved on with life. But yes, that's what it's named after. So he was defending the right to distill in Pittsburgh. That's the distillery, like more than that's the name, that's where the name came from. And he was from Pittsburgh. He doesn't have any relation to like the family that started this company or anything, but it's paying homage to him and being infill in Pittsburgh, and this is the first distillery in Pittsburgh since prohibition.

SPEAKER_03 7:30

They are like downtown Pittsburgh, by the way.

SPEAKER_04 7:32

They're like they are like right by the um the baseball field.

SPEAKER_03 7:37

Oh, really?

SPEAKER_04 7:37

Oh, yeah, which is interesting because in 2022 the company was sold, so they're no longer family owned. So in 2022, they're uh bought by the Nutting Corporation, which is the nutting. Nutting, yep. That's the Rob thinks about that burn-off scene. Now we're making more sense.

SPEAKER_03 7:55

Uh Bob Nutting is the owner of the Pittsburgh Pirates, and he is he is now the owner, the company that uh they actually this year became like the official whiskey sponsor of the Pittsburgh Pirates, right?

SPEAKER_01 8:10

Which makes sense, which makes sense, yeah. You think it'd be more like well, they didn't know at the time, but I don't think they're gonna come out with like a grog. So they might bomb or something.

SPEAKER_03 8:19

So they are for like the pirates. So they're they're to go along with like the pirate thing. Yeah, this company's huge on finishings, they're huge on like community sponsor, like partnership kind of deal. So um, every year Pittsburgh has a marathon that they do, the steel uh I think it's Steel City marathon, and uh they've done it for the last couple years, but each year for the marathon, they do a special bourbon release for the marathon, and it has the like the name, the Steel City uh marathon 2025, um, that they do just during the marathon, and then they they don't do it after that. Interesting.

SPEAKER_01 8:55

So that was family owned and operated. Now it's just now it's been purchased.

SPEAKER_04 9:00

The family, I believe, still has some some stake in the game. Yeah, some stake in the game. They're still kind of running the purchase by a huge corporation.

SPEAKER_03 9:09

Yeah, it very much feels like beam in that because I didn't know they were purchased by a much larger company until you said something like yeah. When you go there, it doesn't feel like it's owned by a large company.

SPEAKER_01 9:20

But I wonder if that guy, that guy that owns the pirates or whatever, if he's more yeah, nutting. I wonder if he's more just like a hands-off, like I own it now, but I'm gonna keep everything the same. Like nothing's changed, kind of a thing, but the name of the owner.

SPEAKER_04 9:34

It's kind of uh, I think he's just kind of Pittsburgh proud because of our ship and the pirates. As if he's from West Virginia and he's just kind of one of these guys that buys up these companies and and runs them or whatever. He's one of the richest MLB owners. Really? I wouldn't have thought of that as the pirates. Yeah, he's not great being a pirates owner. He's one of the richest, just not great. He's just so he has a lot of money to spend, but doesn't spend it very well on the pirates, at least. In terms of like MLB coaches, he's bottom line Bob. Bottom line, bottom line Bob Nutter. Yeah, so he's uh he's he's more interested in profit than than doing well. So hopefully he's gonna keep his hands off on the company and let them kind of continue to run it and just get got some money in so that they can they can help run it.

SPEAKER_03 10:23

That's the hope. Now, folks, Chris poured himself a very little bit at first, and I saw him out of the corner of my eye take a sip, and then he just grabbed the bottle and poured more. So I'm hoping that's a great thing to give you an idea.

SPEAKER_01 10:38

To give you an idea, it's not so when I first saw this bottle come out just now. I was like, okay, been here, done this, you know what I mean? I was like, it's not so, but I didn't pour enough because I tried it and I'm like, oh, there's gonna be a lot more to go over here. Yeah, so it's gonna take a little bit more.

SPEAKER_04 10:56

What is this finished in again?

SPEAKER_03 10:57

Nothing, nothing.

SPEAKER_04 10:59

Oh, but it's made with the red corn.

SPEAKER_03 11:00

This is made with the red corn, yep. Huh. And I would tell you the the mashable if I could, but it's a dumb hat. I don't have it. Uh, but it it's made with a um, they use all local yeah, they are grained glass all the way through, and they're very proud of that.

SPEAKER_01 11:17

I can just tell it's gonna be uh we'll get into it, but there's a lot of like you thought it was flavored or eight or finished or a some flavors because there's something going on, and it's more than just you what you would get from like a different kind of a different kind of yeah, a different mash bill.

SPEAKER_03 11:34

Yeah, so no, they got their start in 2011. 2011. 2011. They opened the doors in 2012. Yep. So we're we're we're hitting a company again. We seem to really like these companies, the small craft distilleries that got their start in the bourbon boom, like right 2010, 2011, like really just trying to figure out what it's about. This is unlike Water. Well, Watershed still does it. This is only a four-year-old product, so even though they've been around for a while, they still stick to that four-year-old. Yeah, this is kind of what it is. Not to be generic, yeah.

SPEAKER_01 12:12

I think four is a good, just a good year, a good year all the way around.

SPEAKER_03 12:16

Um, especially for like craft distilleries.

SPEAKER_01 12:18

Not too much, not too little, right?

SPEAKER_04 12:20

And they're not really old enough to have eight, nine, ten-year-olds just like sitting back, like they would have used it at the time. So like there might be some, but it's gonna be a special release sort of deal, and they're not gonna have enough to like really come out with an a six, seven, eight-year-old. But yeah, it it seems like a cool little company to go back a little bit more on them before we get in this bottle. The you were talking about the rye, and so it's uh I gotta see it before I can say it.

SPEAKER_03 12:48

Oh, I I mispronounce this all the time.

SPEAKER_04 12:50

Moningahala, moningahala rye, uh, is what they're kind of known for. It's what Pennsylvania is known for. Also, I mentioned that they were strand of rye or something. Yeah, it's like a strand of rye, it's an uh a heritage type now.

SPEAKER_03 13:03

I was gonna say that's the supposedly the rye, the strand of rye that started Pennsylvania Rye, like that the kind of when that whole rye started. The the I don't even know if it's when Rye officially became Rye, but before even before then, that was kind of the strand that they used because that was best out of Pennsylvania.

SPEAKER_04 13:22

And because of their ties to the Whiskey Rebellion, they're on the Whiskey Rebellion Trail, which I didn't really know there was one until I went down the rabbit hole in this distillery. So it kind of crosses across Pennsylvania and into DC and goes there. So it's not like close together like Kentucky is. You go from like Pittsburgh to to Philly to Baltimore to DC and kind of cross right there.

SPEAKER_03 13:50

So this is like a trail that we could go on.

SPEAKER_04 13:53

Oh, for sure. Yeah, and there's there's different distilleries that are on it, and you can that sounds like some of the nobody else has done it. Right. It's an it's kind of an unknown trail that are not as popular anyway. So, and especially with you guys being such big rye guys, I mean that's gonna be a good trail for you. Oh, yeah.

SPEAKER_01 14:09

Food would be good, food would be great too, yeah. That'd be a good like eating on the way, yeah. Like more than you get from other, like you know. I mean, I feel like even the bourbon trail down in Kentucky, it's like they've got they have good food, but it's kind of all the same. Yeah, Kentucky is just merck, barbecue and just barbecue, yeah. It's just yeah, oh we're gonna have today, barbecue and mac and cheese. What are we gonna have tomorrow? Barbecue and mac and cheese. Like that's all you get when you're down there, you know.

SPEAKER_03 14:37

It's it's not so much what you're eating, it's what you're drinking, apparently.

SPEAKER_01 14:40

Beef tomorrow. That's yeah, it's right, yeah. I'll go sirloan today and tomorrow I'll get that pork. Maybe I'll try chicken on Thursday. If we're really feeling risky fish, yeah. So uh they you said they do um what like cask strengths and single barrels and whatnot. Is that all with is that all whoopsie? It's not Wopsy or Wopsie.

SPEAKER_03 15:01

Yeah, so Wopsy is its own line that they do with its own, like unique method.

SPEAKER_01 15:07

Okay, that's what I was wondering. Okay, so this is not, if anybody's wondering, this is not like their standard.

SPEAKER_03 15:12

This is their I will say this is their like baseline starter.

SPEAKER_01 15:15

Their Wopsy is their baseline starter, but they probably have a more basic bourbon, it's not like a cast ring, yeah.

SPEAKER_03 15:21

But they don't like a regular, they don't do like a a like a from what I remember being there, they don't do this. Is what 90 proof?

SPEAKER_01 15:29

Yeah, 92.

SPEAKER_03 15:31

92 proof, they don't do anything this low with just their like other stuff, yeah.

SPEAKER_01 15:38

So their other stuff is not is not this proofed up, it's it's other stuff, right?

SPEAKER_03 15:43

Okay, all right.

SPEAKER_04 15:45

All right, well, which provides a you very different flavor, yeah, and not in a bad way, and they do lots of bottles, they do which I mean this. I I feel like you get this a lot with these craft distilleries where they because they're small enough, they can play around. You can you can play a little bit because you're there's still a smaller, you can try new things, and it's not gonna really bank break the bank.

SPEAKER_01 16:09

And they're trying to experiment because they're they're trying to figure it all out, right? But they're doing weird stuff, yeah.

SPEAKER_03 16:14

They're they're going beyond just like whiskey experimental stuff. They they're experimental for whiskey, really comes down to finishings and unique, different finishings, and they do really well at that, but they they know this is the mash bill that we like to mess around with for whiskey. Now, when you get into like gin, they do some unique stuff with gin, they do like lemon cello, they do like very different stuff. They've got one that is called Aqua V. Aqua V Aqua V best way I can describe it is uh it's the Scandinavian version of gin.

SPEAKER_01 16:48

Oh, I have heard of this stuff.

SPEAKER_03 16:51

Yep, it's used with dill and coriander, coriander. It has to has to have dill and coriander in it, which I think I'd like this. So we got to try it when we were there, and it's like fantastic. It's it's kind of like a like a dill pickle, yeah, like almost like very light and refreshing, but still on a summer day it would be fantastic.

SPEAKER_01 17:10

I was gonna say you could make like picklebacks with that thing, right?

SPEAKER_03 17:13

Yeah, and it's not it's starting to become a little more popular within the US, but it's not very well known. So if that gives you any idea of how like experimental and different they are, they they've got the room to be able to play around with different things, and it's not like they've got it because no one wants their other stuff, you know what I mean? Like people want it, it's good, but I think they have also found their niche of unique.

SPEAKER_04 17:40

Yeah, and they do, like I said, we they do a lot of weird stuff. They do the the finish and lagavulin casks, they do a a malted barley one, ember and ember and oak, and uh oak and ember, and that's it's still a bourbon, but it has a lot of melted barley in it. They do a honey, they do a Madeira cask, a stout cask, a shirt, a sherry cask, all kinds of stuff.

SPEAKER_01 18:05

Do they look big enough to have all this stuff? Yeah, I was gonna say, did they have a Rick House that they were or they're or they're aging it on site, I gotta think, right?

SPEAKER_03 18:12

Uh they're I'm gonna say they're aging on site, but they probably have it in a different location than like downtown. They distill everything there downtown, but I'm assuming they probably have a warehouse. I'm assuming a warehouse is somewhere. We've seen a lot of people that are doing that with that stuff. Well, especially when you're coming down to like Pittsburgh, like downtown Pittsburgh, you don't really have a whole lot of space to age. Oh, it's like whiskey rub.

SPEAKER_01 18:34

Yeah, they're an age in there, yeah.

SPEAKER_04 18:36

But yeah, that's that's interesting. For this bottle, the mash bill is Wopsey Valley Red Heirloom corn. So that's the specialty corn that they're using. 65. 65. Yeah, all right, 17 and a half percent malted barley, 17 and a half percent wheat, no rye. It's a lot of malted barley.

SPEAKER_03 19:00

It is. I think that's where you're getting the kind of the bready without being the rye kind of feel. I'm very curious what you guys think because I know I really like this. When you first see it and you first open it, you're like, like Chris said, like we've been here before. I'm not really sure how this is gonna go. Yeah, just another bourbon from a little craft distillery, and I don't get a lot of the dusty corn.

SPEAKER_01 19:21

No, no, I get more um, I'm trying to figure out how to put it into words, but I've I've gotten this before sometimes. Um, but it's not dusty corn, and it's not just from craft distilleries, but it's from like it's gotta be that kind of corn, that red corn. But I I'm trying to describe what that taste is that I'm that I am getting, and it's kind of like this um, I don't know, it's a hot taste. I can't think of what it is. The hot's not the right word. It's uh temperature-wise, it's on it's like not a cold temperature. I'm trying to think of how you would describe like an oven, like a like a toast, like a toasty kind of oven, but I that's not it either. It takes a minute, it's gonna take a minute for my brain to get going. But I'm trying to describe what this taste is.

SPEAKER_03 20:06

There's one that Steve has had, just not on the podcast. Uh, the um it was from MB Roland, the uh uh Barker's Mill. Oh, yeah, Barker's Mill, yeah, yeah. That the the start of this reminds me of Barker's Mill, like very like bready doughy kind of thing. And I think it's the barley mixed with the wheat. But then that that redcorn, it's not Jepp the Creed redcorn. If if you've had Jepp the Creed, you've had the red corn, you're like, okay, this is very like uh earthy.

SPEAKER_04 20:38

This is very almost oh, I don't want to say like mildewy, but almost like I was gonna say it has like well-watered tendencies to it, like like kind of irony in that way. And like, and that's not a bad thing, that's a good thing in this. Every once in a while you get like an image in your head that doesn't really relate to flavor, but the image in my head, and maybe it's because we just said iron, which made me think of well water, and then you said hot. Yeah, I think you might get where I'm going with like a fried egg and a cast iron skillet. Okay, it's like the cast iron skillet, the it's it, but it doesn't taste like that, it's just like the image in my head, and I don't know if it's like a camping image, yeah.

SPEAKER_01 21:16

It's like the heat, the heat of it, yeah, but but not not in a hot tasting but there's like a warmth to it. Yeah, what I think of is like I don't know how else to describe it, but it's a flavor. But this is what reminds me of is like what you're saying. Like when I was a kid, one summer I was working in Tennessee and I was basically like weed eating all day, and on on like these mountaintops, like like not like little weeding, it's like we was like massive weeds, and I was using like an industrial, so I was like just trying to cut down these the sides of these. But anyway, it'd be like three o'clock, you'd been weed eating all day to a point where like your muscles are starting to cramp up, but it was hot and the sun was coming down, and it was like hot everywhere. Like an you know when you open an oven and it's like every bit of this is the same temperature, hot. Not like hot, like ts, but like it was warm, you know what I mean? Maybe the word would be like humid, too. Like humid, you know what I mean? That kind of warmth, that kind of heat. If you could describe that kind of like, and it's comfortable, right? Like you're not cold, but that if you could describe that kind of feeling, kind of what you're saying with the cast iron egg, it's that same kind of like a temperature. If you could describe that temperature into a flavor and not equate it to like hot being like proof, that's what it is.

SPEAKER_03 22:34

I think what you're going for maybe is comforting. It's like a warm comforting. So um, you guys will understand this, hopefully. Uh hopefully our listeners will understand this too. There's uh there's always been like a fight between international tractors and John Deere.

unknown 22:51

Right.

SPEAKER_03 22:51

And if you've ever seen, and it's huge for I don't know why, but international farmer, like those that have international tractors, they're big in recreating like a a tractor, an international tractor out of corn cobs, like old corn cobs, right? You've never seen this. Oh yeah, like they they just build and they paint it red. So it's never even heard of it. Have you ever seen or heard this? So have you ever have you ever seen any uh like tractors being made out of used corn cobs?

SPEAKER_01 23:21

No, I've never even heard of that. Okay. So we we used our tractors where I was from. But did you use your corn cobs? Yeah, did you use the corn cobs? Pipes the only test.

SPEAKER_03 23:31

So maybe that's uh and I that's interesting.

SPEAKER_01 23:34

That sounds like I want one.

SPEAKER_03 23:35

It's really interesting because it it's it's that's um, I think it encompasses everything you're talking about. Kind of that that it's not dusty barn corn smell, it's that you spent corn smell, that corn cob smell, still kind of fresh, but not pipe one.

SPEAKER_01 23:50

Yes, like a working man's cob.

SPEAKER_03 23:52

Um, and then you also have this thing of like this image of an international tractor. Yeah, where it's not necessarily it's the tractor that matters, but it's that I don't know why. In fact, it's American and yeah. Whenever I see international, whenever I've seen a an international tractor in person, it's always like a humid morning. It's not hot, it's still kind of crisp out, but it's also humid out. So it's a little damp, a little dewy. And whenever I see a John uh John Deere tractor, it's like nice out. It's sunny, it's it's shining. There, there's kind of the difference between the two. I don't know why I've always seen it that way. In my mind, it's that picture you're trying to describe where it's like this is homey, this is comforting, but you also have that smell where it's not dusty barn, but it's still like and hay and like they're still like farm work and it's the farm work, it's the use corn cob kind of smell. Yeah, like it's that's a very unique smell in and of itself where there's not corn on it and it's just the cob itself, and it's dry.

SPEAKER_01 24:49

I think that you're right. Yeah, I think I'm gonna equate this. Is such a down home kind of like kind of a that's the the taste and smell is such a like the only way I can describe it was like like my days working on a farm and and working on on the hills, like on a on the on a bank somewhere with dirt and dust and sun coming down and and the smells and the the heat and the that's what this is bringing me back to.

SPEAKER_04 25:13

Yeah. I get a lot of like floral honey kind of notes off of it too. Oh, yeah. And like that, and that honey and the iron is kind of the combination that I think is is creating this. That like sweetness of like a springtime honey, the really floral kind, and then the irony flavor that goes with that, like a well water, yeah, exactly, which is totally there, yeah, yeah. And I think the reason I went to the fried egg and stuff is when I was in Boy Scouts, we would always go to this to this conservation club, and that was in the town that we were in, and so like that was a normal spot for us to camp, and we would go there, and but they had well water there, and so that was always what we had there. And when you went downstairs to the kitchen and stuff, that was you cooked with it and everything, so it was always in all the food, you could always taste it. It does, it's a big difference, and so I get that, and I think that's where the fried egg came from, which is because that's what we had when we were camping down there and stuff, but yeah, that iron, the honey, the floral, and just kind of like it, just it tastes like the air after a combine goes by. It's like that is that farming kind of flavor, fresh farm, yeah.

SPEAKER_01 26:33

And if you can, yeah, if anybody knows, like if you're listening and you like know if you've ever been out working and there's like a tractor, you like that smell, that's that sense, that taste, sight, sound kind of a thing. If you were to wrap that all up into a flavor, it kind of is this, and if you could take that and actually kind of make it like stale a little bit, not in a bad way, but it there's a bit of a staleness to this as well, which is fascinating to me because we did two different series without Steve, right?

SPEAKER_03 27:03

We kind of went through Little Book, which was huge, uh conglomerate, massive distillery, and all the uniqueness that they provide and within the little book series, right? And the the the the ever-changing flavors with each year. And then we we jumped into uh the underrated unknown uh kind of distilleries, right? Which were they were more craft, and you kind of had a a memory or a story that kind of brought up. And then we jump into this one where it it's uh we're kind of jumping into bourbon 101 again, of like uh the the basics, and this is like the the in my mind the if you could call it this, the quintessential basic for craft distillery. Not that there's a quintessential flavor or quintessential mash bill, but the years fit the the four years fits right in, the uniqueness to them and where they're at. That's very quintessential.

SPEAKER_01 27:56

The fact that is is unique is is one of the aspects of of being, yeah, I get what you're saying.

SPEAKER_03 28:02

And as I hear you guys talk about what this bottle brings, like this glass brings up for you guys. I keep thinking back to all the other craft distilleries that we've experienced. And there's something that they have going for them that no other distillery has. Yeah, and that is bringing you back to home, like bringing you back to childhood, bringing you back to like those warm, fuzzy memories of like this is what I remember growing up, you know, Boy Scouts. I remember like going to doing those things, like different different aspects, different, different, different. Somehow they're able to capture that in a bottle. Like, and they're not, it's not like this was their intent. Like it wasn't like, hey, we we gotta create a bottle that will cause Nick, Chris, and Steve to go, man, I remember childhood. I remember this this story or this thing. I remember summers working in a you know, working on the farm or uh doing anything like that, but somehow they're able to capture that.

SPEAKER_04 28:55

Yeah, it's almost weird. Like this is a nostalgia bottle, and I've never had it before. Like the memories are going through my head. I was like, Man, I I want to be sitting on this for a while and just thinking about stories from my childhood.

SPEAKER_01 29:10

Your memory threads, which is a weird thing, and but I think the best, whether it's food or bourbon or pipes or it doesn't matter what it is, the some of the best things you can get evo invoke memories and different ones at that, you know what I mean? And um I don't know what it is about this this bottle, but it is kind of like pulling at certain like tugging at certain memories. And I think that that is what you're getting at with you're saying this is like a when you think craft distillers, you think of you know, this fits right in, and just because most craft distilleries are unique in themselves. Like you wouldn't pick up one and be like, this is like you might say it's like, but this is different from this, that, and the other, you know, and you don't get those types of flavors from anything mass proved, like the the big guys. And I I think if anybody was listening, like why this one? Well, I think it's just because it's unique, it's got aspects that are similar to to this or that, or like this there's definitely Jephtha Creed aspects to this, like and it's in the background, or even if the flavors aren't the same, the the way that the uniqueness of the of the ingredients work, it reminds me of, it's reminiscent of Jephthah Creed. Doesn't mean it's anywhere close, flavor-wise, it's different. But I love that about craft distories because it's if if you don't know, like you try those things because they are different, you're not gonna get that right from other things. And if they're and they're not all the same, right? Not even close.

SPEAKER_03 30:43

And it I think it's so interesting because we we talk about on your your bourbon journey, right? If we're thinking of this idea of like bourbon 101, this is what bourbon is, right? We talk about this journey that most people start on, and it's these friendly weeded bourbons from mass, massive distilleries, like just name well-known name brand distilleries. This is one that I would hand to someone that's starting out and go, you gotta try this because it it that wheat and the barley really bring about a sweet, friendly note to the red corn that's almost like natural sweetness, yeah. Yeah, like almost like a candy corn, but not like not in a bad way. It's it's very like in the background of like candy corn, just after you've like when you first bite into candy corn, you have that that sweetness, that corny sweetness. That's what it kind of brings about, and then it kind of fades with the the barley and with the wheat, it kind of fades into the background from there, and you start getting other notes that you're like, oh wow, that's that's I like that this is one of those bottles that's also very unique, but isn't harsh, it isn't, it isn't uh, it doesn't have all that rye.

SPEAKER_04 31:54

And so, you know, usually when we're looking at unique bottles, they tend to not be great for beginners, right? You know, they tend to have be really bold kind of flavors. Whereas this one isn't bold, but it is unique and it has its own flavor profile that even a new bourbon drinker would would appreciate and would be able to say, this is different than Jim Beam, or this is different than Jack Daniels, because they haven't figured out that's not bourbon yet.

SPEAKER_01 32:24

Which and without it ever being like overpowering or too much, or or I can't, yeah. It this is not un unfriendly. This is not offensive. The only thing there's like a little bit of pepper, and even that's not offensive in any way. It's it's the type of pepper that you would actually, it's like grinding some pepper on top of a fried egg. Like it's that little pop of pepper that you're like, this actually needed it. Like, have you ever had eggs without pepper? Oh, like I've done that many times. Like, I always go salt, right? But sometimes I don't do pepper. But you kind of it's the absence of pepper that you start realizing when you like get done eating two, like two fried eggs and you had no pepper on there, you're kind of like, I kind of missed out on like a little bit because I think it breaks it up, you know what I mean? And I I just think you need it.

SPEAKER_04 33:12

So you need something else to do.

SPEAKER_01 33:13

Yeah, it is, yeah. Even with the salt on an egg, like you need a little bit, you just need a little bit of pepper. I think anybody that I'll fight you. If you're like, yeah, no pepper on an egg, I'm like, no, you need a little pepper. You don't want to overdo it, but you need you gotta have a little bit, a little bit, something, something. But I think, and that's the only thing that would make this uh kind of like because it's not punching, it's not kicking, it's not thrashing, it's not doing anything, but it's you know, standing up for itself with it. Like, I got hey, I got pepper, you know what I mean? Like that, and that's it. Like, that's it. He's like, not not doing much more than that, but I I like it. I think it's really good, it's unique, it's different, it's um not like my favorite flavor profiles, but I appreciate it for what it is because it is different, it's unique, and I could see myself this bottle would hit some days and not others, you know what I mean? I just feel like it is very much like a down memory lane.

SPEAKER_04 34:14

That's what it is, it's a nostalgia bottle, um, which is weird for a bottle you've never had before. So, but yeah, this is one I would want on the shelf just to be like if I'm ever talking about my grandparents or ever talking about Boy Scouts, like or time in your life and like to talk about that. Like, if I have a story for you about my childhood, this is the glass I want with me to help bring those memories back.

SPEAKER_01 34:42

It's just strange. Like, I just like I'm getting like I'm getting other memories from like like I just had a memory I haven't had in my life, like probably since it happened when I'll you know what I mean. I was like six years old, or walking home from the library, like and like it just but it's weird, it's like it's bringing these things forefront, so strange that uh it can do that, you know what I mean? But I mean, that's the thing about bourbon and whiskey. It's it's powerful, you know what I mean?

SPEAKER_03 35:08

It's powerful.

SPEAKER_01 35:09

If it it can it can bring about some make you want to fight, or it could make you wanna do a lot of things, but I it can bring bring memories, I guess.

SPEAKER_03 35:19

Now, do we know is red corn a prevalent around Pittsburgh, like around that area? Pennsylvania?

SPEAKER_04 35:26

I don't think it is any, I don't think any red corn, whatever, is prevalent anymore. Well, did it did it get its start in that area? I I don't think anyone could ever answer that question.

SPEAKER_01 35:35

I think red corn got its start in America.

SPEAKER_04 35:38

Yeah, it was just uh uh corn was just a thing that the the natives used, and so because they used Wopsy, so the theirs is the Wapsy red corn that they use, right?

SPEAKER_03 35:49

And then you got Jeff the Creed that uses Bloody Butcher, which I thought I've never heard anyone else that use bloody butcher, and then Liberty Pole uses bloody butcher in theirs, and they're very like we're different from others that use red corn in the in the Pennsylvania Pittsburgh area because of our strand of red corn. And I didn't think about that until now, and I was like, Well, is red corn like prevalent over there? Like, what why I I think it can be, but you're talking two distilleries that are like maybe 10-15 minutes away from each other.

SPEAKER_01 36:21

A red corn is a hardier corn and it's kind of a colder, wetter area, right? And so I think probably a hardier corn would do better than a you know, yeah. I mean, that's what I always think of when I like when I think of red anything, right? Like Irish, like Irish and Scottish people have have red to them. It's kind of a cold, wet environment, you know. They come out tough. Yeah, they're kind of hardy. You know, they're hardy, they're tough, they're working people, and uh, I feel like uh red corn's kind of like that, you know. Whereas like some of the other corn can be a little bit more like fickle, right? Could maybe potentially not do well if the the weather isn't great kind of a deal. It's not as harsh as some like old German Dutch lady that has roots to the Amish, but and in in and burning witches, right? Like they did over like that's that whole area, right? They were Dutch and they were burning witches and they were kind of Amish, kind of not, and what do you call what uh Puritans? That's what I'm thinking of. Puritans, yeah. I think red corn is a very Puritan type of a thing, you know what I mean? I get that. I guess I can see that unforgiving, harsh, can deal with things, might burn might burn witches, kind of ideal.

SPEAKER_03 37:43

Like might burn witches, burn witches. I appreciate there's a might in there. They could, could not do it.

SPEAKER_01 37:49

They have the option.

SPEAKER_03 37:50

Think about it for sure. They wake up every morning going, I I might I might burn a witch.

SPEAKER_02 37:55

Or I might or I might have some some chocolate. Yeah, what are the other chocolate?

SPEAKER_04 37:59

What are the other things?

SPEAKER_02 38:02

We're not sure which could be you, or I'll or I might smoke some Dutch masters, Dutch Master cigars. I might do these things, or I might just work on my tractor.

unknown 38:11

Right, right.

SPEAKER_01 38:12

Yeah, I don't know. But uh, I I think it's hardy. I I like it. I I think it's it imparts we've talked about red corn quite a bit on here. Um, and then you got red red wheat, you've got like all these different ingredients that people are like, what's this versus that? And it's like it's just different, you know what I mean? Like if you've ever used it, it's like when nobody's ever tried, if you've never tried sourdough, right? Sourdough bread, like that is different in a way that white bread. It's there, but bread bread. But sourdough is different from rye, from pumper nickel. Pumpernickel's another one. I grew up eating pumpernickel bread as a normal thing. We never were like, oh, this we're eating pumper nickel. Like we just like had bread, and most of the time it was pumpernickel. We just were a family that ate that stuff. But now people are like, oh, you know, the pumpernickel's got a very unique flavor to it, and it's so weird and it's interesting. I'm like, to me, that's just bread. Bread is bread, is bread. Yeah, yeah, and and rye, same thing with rye bread, like just grew up eating it. But uh they all have their own unique flavor, but they're all bread, you know what I mean.

SPEAKER_03 39:14

And I think that's the fun part in this series for me of pulling this bottle out first is this idea that we talk about bourbon, being bourbon has to be 51% corn, right? But when you say that, people have this idea in their mind of has to be yellow dent corn, right? Has to be yellow corn, like that that's what everyone uses. And you know, maybe wheat or maybe rye, but you know, barley is very uh it's a very small aspect of the mash bill. Whereas you got this one where it's like, no, we didn't use yellow corn, we used red, we used red corn seven what 17 barley, yeah, 17 and a half barley. So we used equal amounts of wheat and equal amounts of barley in this guy and 65 corn. Yeah, but very unique corn. That's not the it's not what would be considered the norm when you talk about like oh this a bourbon, what makes a bourbon a bourbon? Oh, it has to be this. Yeah, oh yeah.

SPEAKER_01 40:07

This is this is what I think this is bourbon. I would think of, but is it this is 100% bourbon, right? But it is so like not what you'd think of. And it's so good though, and I you it's also sweeter on the end than I like. I'm picking up a lot more sweetness. It's very sweet. Yeah, I I really like this. Like, I could see I could see myself drinking a lot of this.

SPEAKER_03 40:34

So I think this bottle was like 45 to 50 bucks, maybe. Okay, five minutes. So good price.

SPEAKER_01 40:39

Yeah, four years, yeah, unique mash bill, probably fantastic local ingredients for under 50 bucks.

SPEAKER_03 40:48

Their finishings were you know, before tax were up in 70, 75, I think.

SPEAKER_01 40:52

And that's good for finishing finished and finish that's done right, yeah.

SPEAKER_03 40:57

But after you guys have had two of their stuff, you've had their rye finished in scotch scotch bills, and then this guy, would you recommend this company? This distillery.

SPEAKER_04 41:08

It sounds like if you like uh, in terms of a first early bourbon person, so like a bourbon 101 kind of person, I would recommend this bottle. This is a very good bottle for that. The other one, the uh rye there, I really liked the rye. The finishing wasn't that much, it wasn't it wasn't near as peedy or smoky as I was hoping for. It boasted, but um, but it was still there, like you could still taste it a little bit there. So the finishing was still a good finishing, just wasn't really what I thought it was gonna be. So yeah, I'd I'd give it a shot.

SPEAKER_01 41:45

Yeah, I mean, I think this bottle, I would say anybody knew. I think if you were new, new new new to bourbon, maybe you would struggle a little bit with this. I don't think you'd appreciate it for all the aspects we are. I think you would like it. I don't think you'd love it because it is uh it's hard for us to remember, but it is very much unique from what you drink when you're first like drinking burr. Like if we had had this the the first couple years when we were sitting around drinking four roses, you know, single barrel and things like that. I think we would have liked it. I don't think we would have, it would have been our favorite. I think we would have been like, this is just so different. And I don't I don't know if I can I don't think we would have disliked it. I just don't think it's something we would have gone after. But that being said, I think it's good for the guy who's gotten past that point, right? Right. And like you're starting to learn and you're starting to appreciate things for for their differences, and you're more than just drinking bourbon, you're in you're getting more into like different flavors and developing when you're developing a palette, I think this would be is where this is where you should, and then anybody past that. Like I think even if you're experienced, I think you would enjoy this bottle. I think if you are the kind of person that likes craft, this would be the one that we you'd recommend. Because there's we there's crafts we've done where, okay, not so much, you know what I mean? And I don't know about other people, but I almost like want to collect craft distilleries. Like when I find one that I like and I and it's close enough I can visit, like hell yeah, like sign me up. I want to experience this again, because I love experiencing a good craft distillery, especially when you've done some and they're not good. You know what I mean? You're like, that really sucked, and it felt, you know what I mean? It's just the worst. Then when you go to wine and you're like, this is just so great. I love this company so much, you know what I mean? Or this, whatever. So it sounds like that would be this. This bottle tastes like that would be this. It's close enough. We can find out for sure. I can find out for sure. I'm intrigued. I think this bottle's good. Play sounds awesome. The other one we tried was good. I like this better, though, which is interesting. The other one was a rye and it was finished in scotch. I I should like that more, but I like. This I like this better. Yeah. I like how I mean I just like how different it is, it's unique. I think I can't get past what what Steve was saying. And it just took a while to like kind of realize what because we kept saying, like, it reminds me of, and I couldn't describe it. I'm trying to describe memories of specific times more than flavor. That's what this bottle does. It invokes memories. It really does. Yeah. It's like bringing bringing out like uh memories, which is cool. I like that. I mean, I you gotta love that those aspects to whatever it is yours, whether it's smoke smoking a pipe or drinking or or you're eating food or because there's food that will will do the same thing. Sights, smells, tastes, sounds, you know, brings back those memories.

SPEAKER_04 44:47

And on the pipe, I'm glad we went with Carter Hall. This is a nice, very basic, very basic pipe smoke. So it just kind of laid the floor and I don't think it interfered too much with the flavor.

SPEAKER_00 44:57

Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 44:57

I don't think it really added to it either. It was just a good, nice little cover.

SPEAKER_01 45:02

All around American tobacco. Right. Been around forever. And it's good. Yeah, it was, it went well with it. I think randomly, I think I picked the right one. Right. Yeah. But you can't. First thing in the morning at Carter Hall, you can't go wrong. All right. Well, we'll do this again. Yeah. Yeah. On to the next bottle.

SPEAKER_03 45:24

With a different one, another bourbon 101. Cheers.

SPEAKER_04 45:33

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.